iDon't want to be somebody's second choice
by kwags74
Summary: Freddie is tired of being rejected by Carly. Sam is tired of not being some guy's number one girl. Will things ever change for these two friends? SEDDIE. Completed!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to iCarly

Chapter 1

"So Carls, what exactly are we planning to do on iCarly this week?" asked Sam, as she bent down to enjoy her smoothie.

Sam was sitting in a back corner booth of Groovie Smoothies slurping on a huge 64oz blueberry smoothie. Seated next to her in the booth was her best friend. And sitting across from her best friend was Sam's frenemy Freddie.

Carly had been staring outside the shop's back window. The skies were overcast on this Tuesday afternoon in early September. It looked as though it might rain at any time. Carly turned away from the window to look at her friend.

Surprised by her question, Carly replied, "Did you just say we?" Her face began to light up. "So you're actually gonna help me with ideas this week?

Sam, raising her head back up from the smoothie, frowned. "Nah, I was just wandering what we were doing." And with that, she went back to her smoothie.

Carly just sighed. Had she really expected anything more from her somewhat lazy friend? But Sam was indeed "her" lazy friend, and she didn't expect anything less.

Freddie just rolled his eyes. _Sam will never change._ He thought. _Just like she'll never quit picking on me. Some things will never happen. She's nice to me at times, but it's usually a set-up for some huge prank. It would be nice if she was nice to me all the time, like Carly._ He smiled at this thought.

Sam had just enjoyed another long slurp from her smoothie, when she noticed Freddie was smiling right across from her. "What are you smiling at, nerd?" She snarled.

Usually, Freddie would get a pale look on his face when Sam snarled at him, but he couldn't help but keep smiling. "Some things will never change."

Sam narrowed his eyes at him, and hissed, "What's that suppose to mean?"

Freddie quit smiling, but replied plainly, "I'm just saying that over the past year, nothing about ourselves has changed. You still pretty much just kind of sit back, and let Carly do pretty much all the work for the show. You still can't be nice to me for any length of time, no matter how hard you try…"

"I'm not that mean to you!" Sam shot back. "I don't give you daily wedgies, or push you in a locker, or flush your head down a toilet."

"You guys--" Carly stammered, looking around the restaurant to see if her friends were drawing attention to their table.

"Hang on, I'm not finished." Continued Freddie. "You rarely do your homework, and then you still need to copy mine and Carly's. You eat almost anything that isn't tied down. You have no respect for anybody's property; and you don't really care about anybody's feelings."

Sam sat back, with her arms folded, glaring at Freddie as he was rambling on about her. When he finished, she sat back up and said to him, "Are you through, Freddork?"

Freddie was a little out of breath from his speech, but he simply replied, "Yeah, I guess so."

Sam stared at Freddie for a few seconds, and her facial expression softened. "Well-," she began speaking softly, "you're right, some things don't change."

The soften tone of her voice was starting to send shivers through Freddie. _Oh no, what did I just start?_ He thought.

Carly was sitting still, looking nervously at her friends. _Oh no, what did Freddie start?_ She thought_. I can see that this conversation is not going to end well._ Frustrated with this banter, Carly propped her elbows by on the table, and dropped her chin in her hands.

Sam looked at Freddie methodically; then she continued, "I guess if we are going to be honest with each other about these "things" that bother us so, I'm going to put my two cents worth." Sam lightened up her face and said sharply, "I only have two observations to give you, but I'm only going to tell you one of them now."

Carly and Freddie both took a deep breath as Sam continued.

"Why is it, that when it's time for me and Carly to come up with plans for the show, that you're always tagging along with us? After all, this webcast has me and Carly doing all the action and you stand back like our faithful nerd and film us…"

"There she goes again," Freddie interrupted, "treating me like I'm not important to the show…"

"…I mean really, Freddie," Sam dismissing Freddie's interruption, "Don't you have any guy friends that you can hang around with, instead of being like a third wheel to two girls, neither of which are your girlfriends?"

"Sam!" Carly hissed.

"Well, yeah, I have guy friends." Freddie answered rather disturbingly. "I don't always have to be around you guys that much. I guess I just didn't realize…"

And with that, Freddie stood up from his seat, and grabbed his empty cup. "I probably should get going anyway; my mom is expecting me soon."

"Freddie, you don't have to leave now." Carly replied upsettingly.

Freddie grinned at her and responded, "it's okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay then, bye." Carly called out, and Sam raised her head up from her smoothie and nodded to Freddie as he dropped his empty cup in the garbage can by the shop doors, then quietly walked out.

Carly was stunned by the events that just took place, and sighed in disgust. Then, shaking her head, she stood up from where she was seated next to Sam, and proceeded around the table to occupy the seat that Freddie has just moments ago. When she got seated, she turned her head to face Sam, and she stared at her.

Sam was busy wrapping up those final few slurps of that big 64oz drink and was aware that Carly moved seats and was staring at her. _Oh man, _she thought, _Now I'm gonna have to hear one of them lectures about why I'm so mean to Freddie, and why I can't try to be nice to the little boy._

Sam continued to look down in her drink, hoping Carly would just get on with it, but Carly just continued to stare at her. Finally, Sam raised her head up and snapped, "What, mom?"

Carly glared at her, "Was that really necessary what you told Freddie?"

"Hey-y-y, I'm just giving our friend something he can put in his blog." Sam answered smugly, very amused with herself.

Carly narrowed her gaze, not amused, "I don't mind having Freddie around, he is our friend, and…" her voice was starting to get louder, "…I want his input for the show, because he has a lot of good ideas."

Sam threw her head back to look at the ceiling and moaned, "Aw, c'mon Carls, he's a nerd with boring, techy ideas. I can almost fall asleep at this table right now just thinking about it."

Carly reached across the table and grabbed her friend's head and gently brought it down to face her again. "And," Carly finished, "why do you have to hate on Freddie so?"

"Oh!" Sam said with a start, and suddenly sprung from her seat, "I forgot to tell Fredward the other change that I would like to see him make!"

"Wait, Sam." Carly said as she stands up as well, "Where are you going?"

"To catch Freddie before he goes into his apartment," answers a streaking Sam, as she begins to run out of the shop.

"Sam!"

"I promise I'll be nice!" screams Sam to Carly through the window as she sprints for Carly and Freddie's apartment complex.

Carly sighs, then proceeds to pick up hers and Sam's cups and walks over to the garbage can and dumps them. Then rather quietly, she walks out into a cool afternoon day, on her way to meet up with whatever is happening at her home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Freddie!" Sam yells as she reaches the top of the stairwell of the floor that Freddie and Carly live on at Bushwell Plaza.

Sam knew that Freddie would probably be walking rather slowly to his home after getting dished by her at Groovie Smoothies, and she knew she could catch him even with his head start despite the fact he had a short distance from Groovie Smoothies to his apartment complex. And she was right. She entered the hallway and saw Freddie at the end of the hallway getting ready to go left around the corner to get to his door.

She's a little out of breath when she yells, "Freddie!" yet again. But she wants to talk to him before he enters his house so she doesn't have to deal with Mrs. Benson.

Freddie has almost reached his door when he hears his name being called. He stops in front of the door and waits for he was hoping was Carly to turn the corner, but sees Sam instead.

The smile that was starting to form on his face when he was anticipating Carly turned into a frown as Sam came up to meet him. "What do you want, Sam?" He asks disappointedly.

"Hey, I wasn't through talking to…" Sam tried to reply before she was interrupted by a voice coming from inside the apartment.

"Freddie, is that you?"

Sam, who really didn't want to see or deal with Freddie's mother, grabbed Freddie's arm and quickly yanked him away from the door, and dragged him back around the corner of the hallway.

Freddie, who wasn't expecting to be yanked, nearly lost his footing at first and nearly fell. "Sam!" he gasped. Then straightened his feet up and quickly followed her around the corner.

Just when the two were out of view from that wing of the hallway, the door to the Benson's residence opened, and out popped Mrs. Benson. Her eyes were wide, much like they always were, and she was gazing up and down the hallway. She could have sworn she heard her Fredward's voice. "Freddie! Freddie!" she shrilled.

Sam gently pushed Freddie against the wall with her right hand, and held him there. Next, she put her left hand over his mouth just as gently, so he wouldn't speak. Then she peered around the corner at Mrs. Benson.

Freddie, with his mouth being covered and not being able to move, just relaxed in his spot. _There's no use shouting or struggling._ He thought. It wasn't that he couldn't fight Sam off of him, but he realized that Sam wasn't hurting him just now, so he waited patiently for Sam to let him go.

Sam was getting a joy out of the way Mrs. Benson was scoping the hallway looking for his son. _No wonder he's such a nerd_, she thought.

Finally, Mrs. Benson gave up, and went back inside.

When Sam heard the door to Freddie's apartment click shut, she roughly released Freddie and said, "Anyway, I told you there was another thing I needed to tell you earlier."

Freddie straightened himself up after Sam released him from the wall. He knew he didn't want to hear what Sam had to say, because he had an idea of what it was. But he looked at her and nodded slowly.

"Carly Shay…you know, your friend, and my friend…" Sam started somewhat sympathetically as she softly laid her right hand on Freddie's chin to help support it, "…will NEVER love you."

For as nice as Sam was being about this, Freddie was growing hot from anger. "It WILL happen." Freddie stated stubbornly.

"Oh Freddie," Sam quipped with a sad smirk as she put her hand back down, "What is it going to take for you to realize this?"

Before Freddie could reply, the elevator at the end of the hallway opened, and Carly made her way out of the elevator and was slowly approaching them.

They both turned to see Carly coming toward them, Sam then turned back to Freddie. "Okay dude," she said quickly, "If you don't want to believe it, fine. You obviously know what you feel, 'cause I don't even want to imagine what goes on in your geekish mind."

Freddie turned to give Sam a look of scorn before turning back to face Carly who has finally reached them.

"Are you two being civil to each other?" asked Carly worriedly. She'd seen them conversing as she was walking up, and was relieved to see no physical fighting or hearing verbal arguing.

"We were having a nice discussion, and behaving, weren't we Freddie?" Sam asked looking over at Freddie with her eyebrows raised up and an expression on her face that read "you better tell the truth or…"

"Yeah, we were just finishing our conversation from earlier," Freddie answered somewhat nervously, noting he better have the right answer.

"Oh, okay," replied Carly looking at them. "Well, I guess Sam and I better get inside. Did you want to come over Freddie?" She asked sweetly.

Freddie looked over at Sam who was rolling her eyes at the sweet way that Carly invited him over. "No thanks," he said politely, "I probably ought to go home before my mom starts to worry."

Sam started smiling when Freddie brought up his mom, remembering seeing his mom looking around frantically for him just a few moments ago. "Okay Freddo, we'll see you later." She said still smiling.

"Yeah Freddie, Come by in a few hours so we can study together." Carly said smiling at him as well, though her smile was more polite.

Freddie smiled back at Carly, "Okay, I'll see you then." And with that, he opened the door to his apartment, entered quickly, and shut the door quickly so that the girls wouldn't have to listen to his frantic mother yelling at him for being late.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Later, in his bedroom, Freddie laid down on his bed with his head resting on his hands. He stared up at the ceiling and started thinking about what had happened that day.

He needed the peace and quiet. His mom really got on him for being late, and the trauma she was put through when she could have swore she heard his voice outside the door minutes before he came in, and when she looked out in the hallway to find nobody. He had kinda just edged his way from the main room to his bedroom while listening to his mom ramble on. Then he finally got inside his room, and quickly shut the door and locked it.

_I don't know who's worse, _he thought. _My mom or Sam._

_Sam!_ Indeed she was the one he was thinking about, which kinda scared him. _Why does she have to treat me the way she does? I try to go out of way to be nice to her _(most of the time). _And I hate it when she tells me to give up on Carly._

Freddie closed his eyes, and happily started dreaming about the day that Carly would tell him that she loves him back, and that she wants them to be together forever. The day that Carly accepts his wedding proposal, and their wedding day when she officially says, "I do."

Freddie opened his eyes with a start. "I'll show Sam," he said quietly to himself, "I'll ask Carly tonight during our study date."

Then Freddie happily reclosed his eyes, and continued his dream.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"What's up Spence?" Sam asked Carly's big brother as she and Carly entered Spencer's apartment.

"The Sky!" Spencer replied laughing out loud heartily. But when he saw that the girls didn't think the joke was that particularly funny, he quickly formed a straight face, and quietly answered, "Uh, nothing."

"Cool." Carly naturally replied. "We're gonna go up to the studio Spencer."

"O-ba-Kay-bee." Spencer quickly replied. "I'll holler down when supper's ready." Spencer then started looking around the room. "Where's Freddo?"

"He's not coming by tonight!" shouted Sam through the refrigerator, as she was looking through it for something to eat.

"But I'll probably have him come by later so that we can study." Carly said as she stood at the bottom stair waiting for her friend.

"Oh, okay then. So there'll be three of us for dinner." Spencer stated as he headed for the kitchen nearly bumping into Sam, who found a plate of leftover ham, and was about to take it upstairs with her.

"You better probably have enough food for four." Sam told Spencer as she and Carly were heading upstairs. "Because I'm hungry tonight."

At the top of the stairs, Carly stopped her friend. "So are you gonna try to be nicer to Freddie from now on?" She asked painfully.

"Gonna? No. Try? Maybe." Sam replied just as plainly.

Carly rolled her eyes. "Oh Sam, Sam, Sam." She shook her head.

"Aw come on, you know he likes it when I pick on him," Sam said playfully, "It builds his character, it makes him tougher."

"Yeah, but there's a difference between picking on him and being cruel." Carly replied sternly but softly.

"I'm not that cruel to him, I'm his friend," Sam answered defensively. "I'm the tough friend, and you're the nice and sweet friend."

Carly replied, "But do you have to get in his head like you do?"

Sam narrowed her gaze but said simply, "You are the one that is in his head, cupcake."

Carly rolled her eyes and replied, "I wish he wouldn't think of me that way. I like him a lot as a friend, but nothing more." Carly sighed. Then she walked into the studio, "I wish he could just accept that."

_Me too_. Sam thought as she followed Carly into the studio.

**Author's Note: This is my first story ever for FanFic. I will say that I have this story completed, and I will try to download a chapter daily. This story is 26 chapters long, and I should have it all entered in by the end of the month. I'm starting a new story now that I hope to have uploaded in the coming weeks. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed so far.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"So what subject did you want to start with first?" Freddie asked Carly as they both started to spread their schoolwork on the coffee table in the living room area.

Carly was still trying to let her food settle from supper that she, Sam and Spencer had. Sam had just gone home a few minutes before Freddie arrived for his and Carly's study date. Normally, she would have spent the night, but she felt she better stay a night at her home for a change. Besides, there was only so much Freddie she could take in one day. Spencer was in the kitchen finishing up the dishes.

"It looks like we're in for a long boring year of early nineteenth century history, so we better start with that so we can get it out of the way." Carly answered, finally all ready to get down and do some studying.

Freddie stared at Carly. _Sam is so wrong,_ he thought. _The fact that she entrusts me as a study partner is only one of the many things that she and I have in common. We're both smart, and we both want to do well in school. We'll graduate at the top of our class, go to the same college, and have very successful careers. _His imagination was sending him on a high cloud,_ we'll have lots of money, have a nice house in a great neighborhood, be married, have kids-._

"Freddie, are you ready to start Chapter 2?" Carly asked him breaking his train of thought. "Are you okay?"

"Oh...yeah, sure...fine." Freddie answered, and quickly opened his history book to chapter 2. "The Louisiana Purchase…"

"This is so going to be a boring year." Carly groaned.

Freddie turned to stare at Carly again. _Beautiful eyes, long flowing hair, sweet ruby lips, kind and thoughtful voice, _he was thinking as he was starting to space out. _I hope she'll want me to be hers._ "Freddie." _I love when she calls my name._ "Freddie."_ I hope she feels the same way about me._

"Freddie!" Carly hollered at Freddie to break the trance he was in.

Freddie snapped his head back. "Sorry, Carly," he apologized.

"Okay Freddie, spill it." Carly said impatiently, "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Freddie replied trying not to make eye contact with her.

"C'mon Freddie," she implied as she moved herself around so that she could look him in the eye.

Freddie sighed nervously and took a deep breath. "Is there any chance that you'll ever want to go out with me?" He asked as he looked up to face her.

"Oh Freddie," she sighed shaking her head, "please, not this again. Freddie, I've been telling you for so long that I won't think of you that way. You and I are buds."

"But will there ever be a time you think that we could happen?" Freddie asked hopingly.

Carly looked at him with a sad expression. "No Freddie, it just won't."

"What if we were the last two people on earth?" Freddie asked trying to get his hopes up.

Carly looked at him for a few seconds sadly; then replied, "No. And I only say that because I don't want you to try to grasp on something that will never happen like us being the last two people on earth. Freddie, you're a great guy, and you're gonna make someone really happy someday."

"Well then, why is it that you don't want it to happen?" He asked getting frustrated. "You and I are so perfect for each other."

"And that is exactly why you and I will never work," she replied grabbing his hand and giving it a quick squeeze, "a relationship for you and me would bore me, I want somebody that's different than I am. I want somebody with totally different interests and hobbies. I want somebody with a different personality than I can butt heads with." Carly was hoping that this was sinking into Freddie.

"Freddie, you are like my best friend outside of Sam. I hope that we can always be great friends. I enjoy having you in my life" Carly said as she was hoping to wrap this up, "but I will only LIKE you as a friend. That's all you and I can ever be."

Freddie's eyes were burning from holding back tears. He had been softly nodding his head at Carly while she was speaking to him.

"Okay," Freddie said softly, "I understand."

Carly saw how much Freddie was hurting, and now she was trying to fight back tears as well. "Maybe we can do a study date another night," she said gently as she closed her history book, "it's still early in the school year, and we have plenty of time to study together. We have a long freshman year ahead of us." She tried to smile as she said this to Freddie hoping to clear the air a bit.

Freddie rubbed his face quickly; then picked up his schoolbooks. "Yeah, we can wait until the weekend or something," he nodded gently.

Carly gathered her schoolbooks as well, and was getting ready to take them into the kitchen. "That sounds great," she said, "I guess I'll see ya tomorrow then?"

"Sure, I'll see you then." Freddie answered softly. Then he put up his hand in a short wave, and went out the front door. For the first time probably ever, he was glad to leave Carly's apartment.

Spencer stood at the entrance of the kitchen with a dish towel around his arm. "Gonna be okay, sis?"

Carly let the tears flow from her eyes. "I didn't want to hurt him, Spencer," she cried, "but I couldn't live with myself if I kept dragging him along with the hope that he and I were going to happen someday."

Spencer opened his arms out for her. "Come here," he said sympathetically. And Carly went to hug her brother. "You are a better friend than you realize," he continued, "Freddie is one tough dude, he'll get through this."

Carly nodded, then speaking through tears, said, "I just wonder what will happen with our friendship…"

XxXxXxXxXx

A 14 year old girl was sitting at her computer looking at her computer screen. The image being displayed was the Shay's living room where a lot of drama unfolded just a few moments ago. When the living room was empty, the girl quietly shut down her computer, and climbed into bed and laid there staring at the ceiling.

"Aw Freddie," she spoke to herself, "I told you that she was never going to love you."

She just remembered something, and she got back out of the bed and wrote a note to herself. **Must turn off web camera, and put back in studio.**

Then she resumed her position on the bed. "It'll be okay my little dork friend, I can't believe I'm saying this, but there are girls that will want to be you someday." Sam said to herself quietly; then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

**Authors Note: Another short chapter in this story. These chapters will be getting longer soon. If you believe the story is starting slow, just hang in there. Again, thanks to all who've reviewed.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_Today is probably going to be one of the longest days ever_. Freddie thought as he entered the classroom to first period history. He went over to his desk near the back of the room and sat down. He was the first one in the classroom, so he just stared at the front blackboard and began to think about the last twelve hours.

He didn't want to shed tears in front of Carly while he was at her apartment, but as soon as he made his way across the hall to his apartment, the floodgates were let loose. He pretty much ran past his mom into his bedroom and shut the door and locked it. He then had to endure nearly 20 minutes of shouting with his mom that he wanted her to leave him alone. He didn't want to explain why he was upset, or why he was back from his study date so soon. But even when his mom finally gave up interrogating him, he still couldn't get a sense of peace. His heart was shattered by one of his best friends. Deep down he appreciated Carly telling him the truth, and getting the record straight, but he was so crushed by the fact that he was actually gonna have to move on, that he couldn't hardly sleep that night. Added to the fact that he really couldn't avoid Carly for any length of time, he wasn't ready to talk to her about the previous night's events. He, Carly, and Sam were all in this class together, so he knew he would have to see her in the pending minutes before class began.

A few more people had started to enter the classroom now as Freddie began to think about what Carly had said last night. _She wants somebody different, somebody with a totally different personality. Maybe I should try to do the same, I'm sure I could find someone who's totally different than I am._

Another classmate had entered the classroom, slamming her book bag against the door as she entered. For the first time Freddie looked up. _Speaking of somebody who is totally different than I am, _he thought.

"Hey, Freddork," came the groggy but cheerful voice of Sam, who past by his desk and took her seat in the desk directly behind his.

"Hey." Freddie just muttered back. He really didn't want to start in with Sam this morning.

"Did you get your homework done last night? Can I see it?" Sam asked him, like she regularly does every day.

Freddie's eyes just went wide. Because of the emotional evening he had the evening before; he never actually sat down and did his homework.

Very quickly, he opened his textbook up and grabbed his homework sheet out of folder and tried to scan through the chapter they were working on to try to complete the homework.

"You don't have it done?" Sam asked shocked and wide-eyed. "Are you the real Freddie Benson?"

"Shut up, Sam!" Freddie growled, not wanting to take his attention off his schoolwork. He was getting frustrated that he wasn't finding the answers very quickly. He didn't even notice his former object of affection was making her way to her seat.

"Hey Carls," Sam called out to her friend. Upon hearing her name, Freddie looked up from homework to where Carly was sitting.

"Hey Sam," Carly replied back to her best friend. Then she sort of cocked her head at Freddie and with a soft smile said, "Hi, Freddie."

Freddie knew that he didn't want to talk to her right then, but he went ahead and answered her greeting. "Oh…hey Carly," he said awkwardly. He then turned back to his schoolwork.

Carly then faced forward, and got her own homework out and was reviewing it. Sam, who didn't have any homework to copy, just sat there for a moment. She had seen the unpleasant and nervous greeting between Carly and Freddie and was wondering what Freddie was actually feeling.

Sam wasn't one that liked to be left out of the loop. Even though she had spied on him and Carly last night and knew what was going on, she still wanted to know what was going through that nerdish mind of his. "So, how come you didn't get your homework done last night? I thought you and Carly had a study date last night?" She pressured.

_Oh, here we go_. Freddie was thinking when he looked back up from his homework to answer the pest that was sitting behind him. "We really didn't get to study." Freddie muttered plainly not wanting to turn around and look at Sam.

"But Carly has hers done I see." Sam pointed out. This caused Freddie to turn his head towards Carly's desk.

_She's right_, Freddie thought as he noticed that Carly indeed had hers completed, and was now quietly reviewing it. This made Freddie angry. _Carly obviously isn't upset about what happened last night,_ he thought.

Freddie then turned around and took his anger out on Sam, "Well, why don't you just get your answers from Carly today!" He hissed at her.

Sam got cross with Freddie. "Don't take your dorky troubles out on me!" She hissed back. And she took her hand and smacked Freddie upside his head.

"Ow!" Freddie glared at her for a minute. Then the bell finally rang, and he turned back around in his chair and stared at his nearly empty homework assignment. He shook his head at the prospect of what was going to happen to his grade point average; then he sat still as the teacher started class.

"Okay class," Mrs. Wood began, "I need everyone to turn in last night's homework to the front at this time."

Freddie sadly handed his paper to the front. He knew he didn't have to reach behind him to get one from Sam, because he knew she didn't do it period. He did feel bad about barking at Sam earlier. She does like to get on his nerves, but she didn't deserve to be hissed at when she didn't deserve it. He grabbed a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote down, **I'm sorry I yelled at you.** He folded the paper and handed back to Sam.

Sam took it from him, read it quickly, then scribbled a reply and handed it back to Freddie. He took it from her and read the message. **It's all right; you're no fun to pick on if you're that upset. I guess I'll forgive you this time my little nerd.**

Freddie grinned for the first time today. He waited for the Mrs. Wood to turn her back; then he looked back at Sam and told her thanks. Sam warmed, and patted Freddie's shoulders telling him that it wasn't a problem.

XxXxXxXxXx

Finally, the bell rang, and first period was over. It couldn't end any sooner for Freddie, who was getting strange looks from Mrs. Wood while she was looking through the homework and found that Freddie Benson turned in a "very" uncompleted homework assignment.

Freddie was slow to get out of his seat; he let Sam go by him without saying a word. He also wouldn't look Carly's way as she got up from her seat and proceeded out of the room. He waited until everyone had cleared the room before he exited, then he made his way to his locker.

As Freddie was gathering his books for the next class, he noticed a new boy pass by him down the hallway. He had never seen this guy before. _Must be a transfer,_ he thought. Freddie decided to go visit his friend Jeremy (better known as Germy) at his locker before class. He remembered what Sam told him yesterday about not hanging around the girls so much, and visit his guy friends more (or something like that).

Jeremy's locker was not far from Sam and Carly's lockers. As he approached his friend's locker, he noticed that new guy again making his way slowly towards the girls' lockers. While keeping one eye on the new guy, Freddie spoke to Jeremy, "Hey, what's up?"

"Achoo! Oh…hey," Jeremy replied drowsing, "If you'll give me just a couple of minutes…Achoo!...I just need to take some new medication. Then…Achoo!...I'll be right with you."

"Oh, sure," Freddie said uninterested. He was still watching another drama unfold anyway. "Go ahead and take your time."

Sam was at her locker, tossing in her history book, and frantically looking around for her algebra book and homework. _If I cared about school_, she thought, _I'd care about keeping this locker clean._ Carly was on her cell phone. She was standing on the other side of Sam's locker door with her homework to her next class. She and Sam did not have the same class in the upcoming period, but she waited for her friend anyway. But knowing it would take awhile, she decided to call her grandfather in Yakima to discuss a possible trip to see him in October. Since she talked on the phone with her back turned to Sam's locker door, she didn't realize that this new guy was coming towards them.

Nor did Sam, she had finally got her stuff together and was getting ready to shut her locker, when she turned to see a very good-looking young man approach her. _Oh my gosh_, she thought to herself, _he is like, so cute, and he's coming to see me!_

The young man was coming towards Sam, and at the moment he reached her locker, she smiled and said, "Hi."

The young man looked at Sam and smiled back, "Hi."

Sam continued to smile at him as she asked politely, "I've never seen you before, are you new here?"

The young man brightened his smile, "Yes, I just transferred from a high school in Eugene, Oregon this week." He then momentarily looked up from Sam and stared just past her.

Sam just glowed. _I can't believe I have a cute guy from another state flirting with me!_ Sam then thought that maybe she better introduce herself to her new future boyfriend, "My name is Sam Puckett."

The young man was a little distracted by something ahead of him, but he returned his attention back to Sam, and replied brightly, "Nice to meet you Sam, my name is Danny Watson."

Sam almost felt like doing a bow as she replied sweetly, "And it's very nice to meet you too, Danny Watson." She noticed that his gaze had left hers again as he was staring at something down the way. _He must be a little shy_, she thought, _I better be careful not to scare him away like I do with every other boy around here._

Just then, she heard Carly finish her call, and snap her phone shut. "Hey Sam," she said as she was putting her phone away and was getting ready to turn around, "Are you finally ready to go…" she began when she caught eye of the boy candy that was looking at her.

Danny then brushed by Sam and walked over to Carly, "Hello," he said with a big smile, "and who might you be?"

Carly blushed. She couldn't believe that this totally hot guy was speaking to her. "Why, I might be Carly…Carly Shay," she said very cheerfully.

"Well I hope you are Carly Shay," Danny said jokingly, absolutely beaming at her, "My name is Danny Watson. I'm a transfer from Eugene, Oregon."

"Wow!" Carly replied. "Well, what brings you to Seattle?"

The two were like in a trance; they only had eyes for each other. They began walking down the hallway together, not knowing for sure where they were going or even caring at this point.

Sam, still at her locker, just looked at Carly and Danny in disgust. "Yeah Carly, I'm ready to go to class now!" She hollered out sarcastically.

Never taking her eyes off Danny's, Carly raised her hand in a little wave; then continued down the hall with Danny.

Sam slammed her locker door shut, and marched to algebra class. The little dweebs that she tortured ducked out of her way in terror as she passed them in the hallway.

Freddie was still waiting on Jeremy at his locker. He saw the entire episode of Sam and Carly's encounter with the new guy. As Sam stormed by them, Freddie wanted to say something to her, but he felt that she needed to cool off for a few minutes. Besides, they did have the next class together; he could try to talk with her then.

_I'm sorry Sam,_ he thought, _you didn't deserve that._

**Author's Note: A bit of a longer chapter, and an important one too. I didn't mention that this takes place this fall, which should be 9****th**** grade for them. Also, I started writing this before the new season of iCarly started, so there'll be no references of what's happened on the new season in this story. Let me know what you think if you want.**

**I would like to thank the people who have commented thus far. Unless something happens where I can't get to a computer, I will be uploading a chapter daily. Enjoy! – kwags74**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Carly is my best friend and I love her dearly, but sometimes I just want to hate her. _Sam thought as she took her seat in algebra class. _Am I just that ugly, and she's that much prettier than me that I can't have a cute guy notice me? _ She was sick with anger in her stomach, and her face was red hot with embarrassment. She was so lost in self pity, that she didn't even notice that Freddie had come in and took his seat at the desk to her left.

Freddie looked at Sam when he and Jeremy entered the classroom just seconds before the bell ring. He saw how upset she looked as she was just kind of staring into space. He quickly told Jeremy he'd see him after class; then they made their way to their seats. Jeremy occupied the front left desk in the room, while Freddie was near the back right portion of the classroom, taking his seat to the left of Sam.

He put his books down on the desk, and quickly sat down as the bell had rung. He looked over to Sam, who was still staring straight ahead of her. _As much as I really don't need her wrath right now_, he thought, _I need to know if she's okay_. "Sam," he whispered, "are you alright?"

That seemed to snap Sam out of her stare. "No you dork!" she hissed, not looking at him, "I'm not okay, just leave me alone!" Her voice was loud enough to get the teacher's attention.

"Samantha Puckett, is there anything you want to share with the class?" Mr. Perry asked her.

Sam looked up to the teacher frowning, "No sir," she replied simply.

"Good," he said, "Then I'll give you all fifteen minutes to review your homework before I ask you to turn it in." With that, Mr. Perry sat back down at his desk and proceeded to grade papers from the previous class.

Sam glared at Freddie for a few seconds, then turned back to face the front.

Freddie knew that the glare Sam gave him was because she just got embarrassed from getting unwanted attention. He figured he'd make it up to her by letting her copy his homework. Algebra came easy to Freddie, and he had that homework done long before he went to Carly's last night.

He made sure Mr. Perry wasn't looking; then slid his homework over in Sam's direction.

Sam looked down to see Freddie handing her his homework for her to copy. She sighed, then grabbed it from Freddie and proceeded to copy it quickly.

While she was busy coping his homework, Freddie grabbed a blank sheet of paper from his note book, and began to write Sam a note that he would give to her after the teacher grabbed all of their homework assignments. **I saw what happened with you and Carly and that new guy.** He wrote on the paper.

Sam had just finished her copying of the homework when Mr. Perry asked for them to pass their homework forward. She couldn't just hand Freddie his paper back without the teacher questioning why she had his paper in the first place, so she decided to knock his and her paper off her desk in Freddie's direction, then he could scoop them up and hand Sam back hers. That way Freddie could lay both of their papers on the desk, then hand Sam her homework, while his stayed hidden on his books. It would appear in the teacher's eyes that she knocked over her paper, and Freddie would pick it up for her, and hand it back to her. (This isn't the first time they've done this little stunt; the idea is all Sam's doing.)

As he and Sam handed up their papers to the front, Freddie passed the note he wrote over to Sam.

She grabbed his note and read it. Her face got a little pale, but she grabbed her pen and wrote Freddie a note back on the same paper. **What did you think you saw, Fredboy?** She passed it back to Freddie.

He read the note; then he sighed. He wrote a response**. I saw this new guy flirting with you at your locker until Carly got off the phone, then he turned his attention to her and he ignored you.** He reread the note he just written. _Boy, I hope she don't punch me for this,_ he thought. Then, seeing that Sam anxiously wanted to see what he wrote, handed the note back to her.

Sam was distraught when she realized that Freddie had seen everything that had happened. It got her upset again too, and she just sat there for a few minutes thinking. Her face got all red again, and it looked as though she might have wanted to cry. But she took some deep breaths and calmed herself quietly. She stared at the note for a second. Finally, she slowly wrote a note back to him. **Is it that impossible that a cute guy might like me at all? Why can't I be as lucky as Carly is? And why do all of you guys want her so much?!** She wrote the last question out of frustration, and even scribbled it on the paper harder. She then handed the note back to Freddie.

Freddie grabbed the paper from Sam and began to read the note. When he read the first two questions, his face was full of sorrow. Then he read the last question, and got a blank look on his face. _If Sam would have asked me that question before last night, the answer would have been simple,_ he thought, _but now, I don't have an answer for that._

Mr. Perry had just given the class an assignment that they were to do for tonight, but Freddie and Sam, because of their note passing, didn't even know what it was. Freddie wasn't concerned about it at the present time; he could always ask Jeremy at the end of class what it was. Mr. Perry then went back to his desk. This made it easier for him and Sam to pass notes to each other.

Freddie turned back to the note. He decided to answer all 3 questions at once. He turned the paper over to the other side (the front side was full), and responded. **1. Sam, hang in there, you'll get a cute guy in your life; you're a very charming person. They just need to get to know you. 2. your luck will change soon, again just hang in there. 3. before last night I could've answered this question, now it's hard. **He then passed the paper over to her.

Sam looked at the note. _Wow,_ she thought, _my little nerdy friend is actually complementing me_. Her attitude brightened a bit as read his note, until she came across the response for her third question. She frowned at his answer, and although she knew what happened last night, she decided to find out what he was really thinking about Carly. **So what did happen between you and Carly last night?** She then sent the note back to Freddie.

He read the note; then he groaned. He started massaging his forehead with his left hand for a few seconds. _Why did I have a feeling she wasn't gonna let this go?_ Freddie thought. But then he realized that Sam also got hurt today from a guy because of Carly. _Sam might be mean to me at times, but she is my friend. I guess we should sort of be there for each other._ So he wrote her a note telling her about everything that transpired at Carly's apartment. He then handed the note back to Sam.

Sam grabbed the note, and her eyes widened when she saw how long the note was. But she read every word of it; then looked at Freddie when she was done. She looked at him sadly for a moment then turned her attention back to the note. **I'm sorry Freddie, as much as I want to tell you that I told you so about Carly, I can see how miserable your night was. I guess I got a little payback dealt to me with what happened to me at my locker earlier, huh? ** Sam then slid the note back to Freddie.

Anytime Freddie didn't have the paper that he and Sam were passing around to each other, he was busy in his algebra book. Now Freddie had the note again, so he looked up from his book and read Sam's response. He smiled during the first part of the note, although he still didn't like Sam being right about the Carly thing. Then he looked a little shocked when he read the end of the note. He reached in his notebook for a new piece of paper and started a new page. **Sam, you didn't deserve what happened to you at the lockers, okay? And you were right about Carly; I should have listened to you. YOU WERE RIGHT, I WAS WRONG, there; I'll admit it this time.** He smiled as he wrote, then he continued writing his thought. **But hey, there's gonna be better guys out there for you, who would want to be with you.** Freddie wanted to conclude the note passing soon, so he figured he would pass words of encouragement to Sam.

Sam grabbed the new paper that Freddie had started and began to read. She opened her mouth in shocked disbelief when she read that Freddie had admitted that she was right. She looked to the front at the teacher to make sure he was still busy, then looked over to Freddie and whispered, "I'm keeping this paper." Freddie rolled his eyes, but had a faint smile on his face.

Sam looked at the last statement Freddie wrote, and the smile slid off her face. She wrote back on the paper. **Yeah right, the only other guy I dated, Jonah, didn't want me, he really wanted Carly.** She then quietly handed him the note back.

Freddie again took the paper and read. He thought about what she said for a few seconds; then wrote a response back to her. **Jonah was a real jerk, and I'm sorry that happened. But hey, the only girl I dated didn't want me; she only wanted to use me to crush iCarly**. He passed the note back to her.

Sam was looking at the clock when Freddie pushed the note at her. She took it quickly and read it. _Valerie,_ she thought, _that did sort of hurt him when he had to break up with her._ She noticed that the bell was going to ring soon. She put her book up close to her; then wrote a final response to Freddie. **Yeah, she used you, but she didn't try to cheat on you at least. Freddie, what happened at the lockers hurt me. Carly is everybody's dream girl that guys want to marry someday and I always get to be the bridesmaid. I don't want to be somebody's second choice.** With that, she put her pen in her pocket, and handed the note to Freddie.

Freddie was also getting his notebook and textbook together when Sam handed him the final note. As he stared at the last sentence she wrote, the bell rang, and everybody was getting up from their seats. Sam was about to the front of the classroom when Freddie called out to her, "Sam!"

She turned around to face him with a sad expression. He gave her that same expression back. They looked at each other for a few seconds as the rest of the students were filing out of the classroom.

"What is it, Freddie?" Sam asked quietly.

Freddie grabbed her left hand with his right hand, held it for a second and said very softly, "You don't ever deserve to be anyone's second choice." He gave her hand a little squeeze, then laid it back down and let go of it. Then he walked out of the classroom to catch up with Jeremy.

Sam felt it was the nicest thing anybody had ever said to her. She knew in heart that she and Freddie were gonna be friends forever, even if he was a big dork. Finally feeling a sense of peace, she strolled out of the classroom.

**Author's Note: Awww! I love this chapter! It's where I got my title. I'm seeing more and more reviews, and I appreciate all of them. A confrontation in the next chapter. Thanks again to all who've reviewed.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As if Freddie wasn't having a long day with having to try to avoid looking or talking to Carly, now Sam was in the same boat. After being humiliated at her locker between classes last period, she now knew she would have to make a trip to her locker five more times before she could go home for the day. At least Freddie's locker was down the hall so he didn't have to see Carly; Sam's locker was right next to Carly's.

The peaceful feeling that she was having when she left algebra class quickly faded when she approached her locker and saw Carly and Danny still engaging each other at Carly's locker. Sam decided to keep her distance until the two little "lovebirds" flew away. When they departed, Sam quickly went to her locker to get her books to her next class, and hurried to her classroom.

Sam didn't have either of her friends in her class during third period, but she would have to see Carly the following period in English class. That was the fourth period of the day, and the last before lunch.

Sam was again able to avoid Carly and Danny at the lockers before English class, but unfortunately she sat at the desk behind Carly in class, and now would have to face her for the first time since her and Danny met.

As Sam walked into the classroom and made her way to her desk, she saw Carly look up at her, "Hey, where have you been?" Carly asked.

Sam got sat down before she answered her friend, "I've been in school all day," she replied indifferently. Sam didn't want Carly to see exactly how upset she was about what happened early in the day.

"Oh," Carly replied sweetly, "It's just that I haven't seen you since we were at our lockers after history this morning." Carly was actually giving Sam her full attention right now.

"No," Sam said somewhat curtly, "I talked to Freddie for a few seconds after algebra…"

"So you have talked to Freddie today?" Carly interrupted.

"Yeah…so," Sam replied giving Carly a weird look.

Carly really didn't want to go over what happened last night with Sam. She, of course didn't know that Sam knew what happened either. But Carly did want to know how Freddie was taking being dumped. "How is he doing?" Carly asked.

Sam just looked at her friend. _How do you think he's feeling?_ She thought, _you broke the little nerd's heart last night. And you know what, you haven't made me very happy today either._ "I don't ever ask Freddork how he's feeling," she replied impatiently. She really wanted this conversation to end. "I guess you'll have to ask him at lunch." Sam stated plainly.

"Okay," Carly replied frowning a bit, "Say, what are you doing for lunch?" Carly asked brightening up.

"I don't know yet," Sam replied. She really wanted to be left alone during lunch. Actually, she wanted to be left alone now.

"Well, come find me, and we'll all sit together." Carly said, she then turned around to face the front.

Sam stared at the back of Carly's head. _What, so I can be a third wheel to your romance between you and flirt boy? _ She thought_, I'd rather sit with Freddie and his nerd squad before I'm anywhere near that jerk. _

Sam opened her textbook and sat through a boring hour of English.

XxXxXxXxXx

As soon as the bell rang, Sam bolted out of the classroom. She didn't even bother to stop at her locker; she just needed to get away from people. She walked out through the main doors of the school, and walked down the sidewalk to the street. A couple of blocks up the street was a city park where she'd like to hang if she ever played hooky. She jogged down to the entrance of the park and found an empty park bench. She decided to sit down at the bench and clear her head. She would sit here as long as it would take to do so. P.E. was her subject fifth hour, and she was in no mood to go. If she really wanted to, she could blow off sixth period science and just wrap up her school day here at the park.

Science was a class that she, Carly and Freddie were all in. Her lab partner was currently Carly. She normally looked forward to the last class of the day, but with everything that happened today, she really contemplated skipping science class today.

She decided to take a little nap on the bench. She set an alarm up on her cell phone to go off fifteen minutes before sixth period. She then decided to lie down.

She tried hard to fall asleep, but today's events kept flooding her thoughts. _Why would I think any cute guy would want to go out with me? Of course he wanted Carly... No, I'm just Carly's friend, the Third Wheel… I told you Carly would never want you Freddie… Gosh, now I'm thinking about Freddie._

She had only drifted off a short time when her alarm went off. She looked at the time in disbelief. She sighed and grabbed her books and walked back to the school.

Sam walked down the empty hallways of the school to her locker. Fifth period hadn't let out yet. She put away her English book from fourth period and grabbed her science book. She had just shut the door to her locker when she heard the bell ring. The hallway immediately filled with students coming out of their classes. Sam hurried towards science class so that she wouldn't have to bump into the lovebirds at Carly's locker.

Sam was the first one to enter the classroom which caused the science teacher to have a shocked look on his face. Sam then took her seat at her and Carly's lab table. Sam sat patiently and waited for everyone else to arrive in the classroom.

A few more students were entering the room. Carly then came in and walked over to the lab table. "Hey, where were you today at lunch?" Carly asked.

"Oh, I was around." Sam lied. She very rarely ever fibbed to Carly, but she didn't care at this point.

Freddie had entered the classroom and made his made to his lab table which was behind Carly and Sam's. He saw that the two girls were having a conversation, so he didn't interrupt them as he went to go sit down.

"Is something the matter?" Carly asked Sam brashly. "It seems like you've been avoiding me all day like you're upset with me or something."

Sam turned to look at her friend. "You really don't know, do you?" Sam asked annoyed.

Carly looked at Sam with a surprised facial expression, "No, I really have no idea what's going on." Carly turned around to look at Freddie to see if she could get some support from him. But Freddie was still upset at Carly for last night. He just looked at Carly for a second; then with a pale face, he looked away. Carly then looked back at Sam. "Will you please tell me?" She asked getting a little upset.

The bell rang for class to begin. "I'll tell you after school." Sam replied and turned her attention to the teacher.

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam thought science class was never going to end today, but finally the last bell of the day rang, and she gathered up her books and started to head out of the classroom. When she walked into the hallway, she paused and waited for Carly to come out of the classroom.

"Hey," Carly said as soon as she spied Sam, "now can you tell me what's going on?"

Sam took a deep breath and then she motioned for Carly to follow her as she explained. "I'm really happy that you found a new guy today," Sam began not looking quite as happy as she sounded, "but after what he did to me earlier…"

"Danny did something to you?" Carly asked shocked, "what?"

"He originally walked over to talk to me first, and was flirting with me," she answered, her face beginning to get red hot, "until he saw you, and…"

Carly shook her head, "And what?"

Sam's voice grew with anger, "and he blew me off because he wanted to flirt with you instead!"

They had reached their lockers, and Sam angrily opened her locker door and tossed her science book inside.

Carly casually rubbed the back of her neck looking confused, "you mean this morning when I first met him?" She asked.

Sam had been gathering her homework in her locker to put in her book bag, but she turned to Carly to answer her, "that is exactly what I'm talking about," she answered distastefully, "your jerk of a new boyfriend saw you after he was talking to me, liked the scenery better, and pushed me aside like I was a nobody!" At this point, Sam slammed her locker shut and was beginning to walk to the front entrance of the school.

"Sam, wait," Carly hollered from her locker as she was feverishly trying to hurry and get her school bag together so she could catch up with her friend. But as she was shutting the door to her locker, a handsome boy stepped in her path.

"Hey beautiful," Danny smiled, "would you like me to walk you home?"

"I've got to try to catch my friend," Carly replied hastily, "but I'll call you later."

"Sure thing," Danny nodded politely. He started walking towards one of the other exits of the school building.

Carly turned to head toward the front doors, but had lost sight of Sam.

"Sam!" She cried, hoping her friend would respond, but Carly couldn't find her anywhere. _Man, she's fast,_ she thought.

Carly proceeded out the door of the school, and began walking home alone.

**Author's Note: I hope that you are all getting into the story. One of my favorite chapters is up next. Thanks again to all who are reading and reviewing!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Freddie was now finally heading out of school and on his way home.

He had gotten his homework in his school bag and closed his locker. He had reached Jeremy's locker when he saw Sam slam her locker shut after yelling at Carly. He then had watched Sam pretty much sprint out of the building with Carly calling after her. Jeremy was ready to go at this point, so Freddie and his friend headed out.

Freddie and Jeremy talked about their day while on their walk. They talked about their homework, and then Jeremy had brought up something about some new hardware he had read about for his computer that would make your system run with more high definition than what he currently has on his computer.

Freddie was trying to listen to his friend, but his mind was on his two female friends. It had been kinda of a weird last 24 hours. And to top it off, he was thinking more about Sam than he was about Carly.

Jeremy had finished his computer tech conversation and for a little while, the two walked in silence. It was then that Freddie realized that Jeremy was silent and that meant without sneezing!

"Boy, that new medication you're taking sure has taken care of that cold," Freddie said finally.

"Yeah," Jeremy answered without even sounding nasally, "My mom found this medication on the internet, and decided to take a chance. This stuff wasn't cheap though. I just started taking it for the first time today."

"Well, it sure seems like it's making a big difference," Freddie replied, then added, "you don't even sound like you're sick."

"I know," Jeremy replied grinning, "and I'm feeling good, and the weather isn't all that nice today either."

Freddie briefly looked up. The skies were once again overcast on this brisk September day. It looked as though it was going to rain sometime soon. Freddie then looked ahead at the upcoming street corner. It was at this corner that he and Jeremy would separate and go down different paths to their homes.

"I'm hoping that if this medicine continues to work, that people will stop calling me 'Germy'." Jeremy said still grinning.

Freddie smiled, "I hope so too, we've got to find a new nickname for you."

"That would be great." Jeremy replied, "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow Freddie."

"Yep buddy, I'll see you then," Freddie answered as he saw his friend turn the corner to head to his house, while Freddie continued walking straight towards Bushwell Plaza.

Now that Freddie was walking alone, his thoughts returned to Sam_. She's really had a bad day. I've never seen her so upset before. I wish there was something I could do to cheer her up._ He was closing in on his apartment building when his thoughts concluded. _I wonder where she is right now._

And just as he was asking himself that question, he approached a place where he thought she might go. He was standing at the front door to Groovy Smoothies. "I wonder…" he said to himself as he opened the door, and entered the establishment.

The place was very busy as it usually was when school let out. When he, Sam, and Carly were there yesterday, it was a little closer to dinner time, and therefore a lot quieter. For now though, almost all the tables were full of students who were stopping in to relax or talk to mates about their day.

Freddie moved to the middle of the shop and quickly started to scan the tables in hope of catching Sam. He could see most of the tables from the point at which he was standing, but there were still a couple of tables in the back that were out of view. Freddie began walking towards the back just to be sure. When he got back there, he saw a few little tables tucked away in a corner. At one of those tables was a certain blonde-haired girl sitting by herself, and was staring at the wall.

He started to walk over to her table when he noticed her bending down for something in her school bag. Freddie stopped in surprise. He noted that she didn't have a smoothie or anything to drink. _Boy, she must really be upset not to be eating or drinking,_ he thought.

Freddie turned around, and went up to the counter. He decided he would treat Sam to a smoothie. He ordered two 32oz blueberry smoothies. After he paid for them, he grabbed them and some straws and walked over to the small table where Sam was sitting.

Sam was now just sitting staring down at the tabletop when, all of a sudden, a 32oz smoothie was set in front of her. Startled by this sight, she looked up to see Freddie standing at her table holding a smoothie.

"Oh hey Freddie," she said softly, kinda out of it, "if you don't mind, I'd kinda like to be alone."

"Oh," Freddie said disappointed, "sure, that's cool." And he began to walk around her to head for the door.

Sam was surprised that Freddie gave up that easily. _He's had a hard day too,_ she thought, _I can't believe he bought me a smoothie though._ "Wait, Freddie…" Sam called reaching out her hand to grab his to stop him, "…please stay."

Freddie felt goose bumps when Sam grabbed his hand. He released her hand, and walked back over to the opposite side of the table and sat down.

"Can we just be silent for a little while?" Sam asked him gently. She really wasn't planning on talking to anyone tonight, but Freddie had been surprisingly a good friend for her today. She saw he was trying to be nice to her today after her ordeal in school. She was always gonna see him as a dork, but today he was probably the most real person to her.

"Yeah," Freddie answered quietly, "we can just sit awhile and enjoy our smoothies."

Freddie sat back in silence, reaching forward every so often to take a slurp from his smoothie. He couldn't help but stare at Sam every now and again. His thoughts began to wonder, _I can't believe how nice she's been to me today. I really believe that she's not setting me up for something. I think our friendship might actually be getting better. I'm still not sure if she likes me or not, but I'm pretty sure she don't hate me._

He really enjoyed watching her. _I've been so blinded by what I thought of Carly, that I never really looked at Sam before. I always thought that she was some kind of monster_. Sam caught him gazing at her, so he closed his eyes for a moment. _But Sam's not a monster, she's actually rather beautiful. I guess when she acts the way she does towards me I just don't see it. I don't know why guys don't ask her out more, she's a fine catch. Heck, if I got to know her better, I'd ask her out…_

Freddie opened his eyes with a start. _Did I just think about asking Sam out?_ He wondered to himself.

While all this was going on with Freddie, Sam was also deep in thought_. I can't believe Fredward actually bought me a smoothie, and my favorite flavor! I guess he really is a nice guy, of course I already knew that after he told me that I didn't deserve to be anyone's second choice._ Sam had been only looking at her smoothie, but now she stared up at the ceiling momentarily, _and he told me this while suffering from a broken heart. As much as I like to pick on him and punch him at times, I don't ever want to see him hurt._

She looked down to find him staring at her. When he realized this, he had closed his eyes. _For such a dork, he sure is cute. He's gotten a lot better looking since last year. If I ever was given a clue that he might have feelings for me, I'd gladly date…_

Sam had taken too big of a gulp on her drink and started coughing for a second. _Am I really having these feelings about Freddie?_ She thought amazed.

"Are you okay?" Freddie asked when he saw she was coughing. (This had happened right after he snapped his eyes opened thinking about the same thing Sam was thinking about him.)

"Uh...Yeah," Sam answered clearing her throat.

"So, did Carly ever understand why you were mad at her?" Freddie asked trying to get away from his thoughts for a little while.

"No," she answered irritated, "I guess I'm gonna have to sit down with her tomorrow and explain it to her." Sam went back to slurping her smoothie.

"So, you're not going to go over there tonight, then?" Freddie asked a little concerned about the state of the two girls' friendship.

"Nah," Sam replied moodily, "I just assume not talking to anyone tonight. I really didn't want to see your ugly mug either," she smiled at him, "but I know you're not having the greatest of days either, and you and I are both sharing the same problem with the same person."

Freddie rolled his eyes when Sam called him an "ugly mug". But he realized she was kidding, and he wanted to continue conversing with her. "Even when you're having one of your worst days, you still find it necessary to call me names, don't you?"

Her smile broaden, "Why Freddo, did you really think I'd let you off the hook that easily? How long have you known me anyway?"

"Too long," he smirked and couldn't help but laugh, "at least that's what it seems like to me anyway. I never know what to expect from you, Sam Puckett."

Sam, too, started to laugh. "That's why I like being friends with you, nerd," she said playfully, reaching across the table to mess up Freddie's hair, "I can almost always count on you to make me laugh for whatever reason."

They were both giggling at each other. The shop was starting to clear out now, as most of the young customers already had their drinks and conversations, and were heading home.

When Freddie's laughing had died down, he looked at Sam, and asked, "Seriously though Sam, why do you call me names and make fun of me, and hurt me? Did some guy do something to you, or do you just hate guys in general?"

Sam's mood changed drastically, "I don't hate guys, and I don't even hate you," she replied somewhat angrily, "Maybe it's just…"

Freddie stared at her, waiting patiently for her to complete her thought. "Sam…" he said softly.

Sam had paused thoughtfully. But then she looked Freddie straight in the eye with a serious look. "If you expect me to open up about myself, and know things that I don't share with anyone," she stated, "you better promise me right now that you keep these things to yourself. If I ever find out that you said something…"

"Sam!" Freddie interrupted gently, but forcefully, "I think I understand the concept of a secret. And I'm not gonna tell anyone."

Sam stared at him seriously for a couple of seconds, then began, "Okay. My dad is the reason I act the way I do to guys. He was a guy that thought that possessions were more important than people. He gave my mom pretty much anything she wanted, but love." Her face began to turn red, but she bravely continued, "I think he was only really with her until he found Ms. Right, and when he did find her, he bolted out of our lives. We never heard from him again, no phone calls, no nothing."

Freddie felt awful inside as he watched Sam pour her thoughts out to him. He wanted to touch her hand, or go over and hold her, but he decided he better just give Sam his attention.

"My mother acts the way she does because of him, which is why she really doesn't care where I am, or whether or not I do well in school. Sometimes I am the way I am because I'm afraid I might end up the same way." Sam concluded her conversation nearly breaking down.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Freddie responded deeply saddened. "I don't think I've ever talked to you about my father either. Mine is in prison for domestic reasons. He treated my mother horribly, physically and psychologically abusing her."

Sam was trying to get her composure back while Freddie was speaking, but hearing Freddie talk about his dad got her all depressed again.

"I guess that's why my mom is the way she is. That's why she's so darn protective of me, and she gives me them stupid tick baths and stuff." He said this last part to try to brighten Sam's mood, and he smiled when he saw that it worked.

"Wow," she smiled softly, "I can't believe that you and I never talked about our dads before."

"Yeah, me either," he grinned at her. He felt happy that they were connecting with one another.

Sam's mood had brightened, "I guess you and I have more things in common than we thought." But then she retorted, "At least you have a mom that cares about you though, even if it is overbearing. Once in a while, I wished my mom would care about me like that."

"Well, at least you've got Carly and Spencer that care very much for you…" Freddie stated, then smiled at her softly, "…and I do, too."

"That's my Freddork!" Sam smiled as she began to stand up from her seat to throw away her empty smoothie cup. Freddie also rose and walked with her to the garbage can at the front of the store to dispose of his cup.

They threw their cups away, then walked they walked out the front doors of the shop to the sidewalk.

"Well Freddie, thank you," Sam said as they were getting ready to part ways.

"For what?" Freddie asked surprised.

"For the smoothie…" she said at first, then she grinned and said, "…and also for hanging out with me." Sam then put her arms out and wrapped Freddie with them in a hug.

Freddie smiled and returned her hug. _Wow, this is nice, I could get use to this,_ he thought. But then he remembered a certain other time that Sam tried to give him a hug and he wound up getting a wedgie. _She wouldn't do it again, would she?_

Indeed, Sam had brought her hands down to the waistband of his boxers. She gave a little tug that made him jump, and then she whispered in his ear, "I'll let you off the hook, but only today." Sam then let go of his boxers and completed the hug to her friend. She let go of him, and turned to start walking home.

"See ya tomorrow, Fredward." Sam called out as she walked down the street peacefully.

Freddie just stood for a few minutes watching her walk down the street. Then he walked to Bushwell Plaza daydreaming about his friend. 24 hours had passed now since the three of them had entered Groovie Smoothies to talk about the next iCarly. _What a weird day,_ he thought.

**Author's Note: Another of my favorite chapters. I could never remember an episode from the first season that referred to either Freddie's dad or Sam's dad, so I made up stuff for the story. Some episodes from Season 1 I've seen several times while other episodes once or twice. If anybody knows an episode where either of their dads was mentioned, let me know so I can use it as a reference in another story. Thanks again for all the kind reviews! – kwags74**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: This is the only chapter that would have featured an iCarly webcast. I choice not to do anything with the webcast for the simple reason that I believe that both the writers of iCarly, and the talented duo of Miranda Cosgrove and Jeanette McCurdy are just to awesome for me to even remotely copy their talents. They rock, and I wouldn't do them justice. The webcast doesn't have anything to do with the story anyway. Hope you enjoy the chapter though – kwags74**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to iCarly, but it would be freakin' awesome if one of us did!

Chapter 8

"Guys, we're on in two minutes!" Freddie yelled from the iCarly studio as he was making some final preparations for the webcast.

"Keep your pants on Freddork, we're coming." Sam answered from the lower floor as her and Carly had each grabbed a Peppy Cola out of the fridge and climbed into the elevator.

"Omigosh," Carly said excitedly, "my actual first date with Danny is tomorrow night, and I don't think I can wait a minute more!"

"Hooray," Sam replied somewhat sarcastically; then she frowned. _Oh great, like I really want to hear about Mr. Wonderful yet again._

As Carly was rambling on about Danny, Sam began reminiscing about the past couple of days. She and Carly had finally talked about the locker incident the previous day, and finally Carly understood why Sam had gotten upset on Wednesday. They made up as expected, and she told Sam that she would talk to Danny about the incident. Sam really didn't care if Carly talked to him or not, because Sam wasn't gonna like Danny anymore anyway.

Danny had felt terrible about the misunderstanding at the locker, and tried to apologize to Sam yesterday, but Sam merely shrugged off his apology. She later told Carly that she would tolerate Danny, but she was never gonna be friends with him. And now, Sam has had to listen to Carly constantly talk about him for the last couple of days.

The elevator door finally opened (much to Sam's relief), and they both got out of the elevator. They set their colas down on the table behind Freddie's tech equipment, and made their way in front of the camera.

Freddie was making one final inspection of the equipment when Sam hollered, "Good Lord, aren't you ready yet?"

"Hey," he shot back, "I always make sure that the equipment is in good running order before we start." Freddie walked up to his position in front of the girls with camera.

"Aren't you going to be sure the cover is off the lens before you start rolling?" Sam asked. Shocked, Freddie turned his camera around to find out if it was still on. "Made you look!" Sam laughed.

Freddie, annoyed, turned the camera back on the girls, "Gee Sam, that was real funny," he remarked.

_So much for that peaceful afternoon a couple of days ago,_ he thought. Sam was right back to her old self Thursday after her and Carly cleared the air. He was still taking abuse from her, although it hasn't been quite as harsh as he's use to getting from her.

Freddie held up his right hand and spoke to the girls, "Here we go, in 5, 4, 3, 2…" Freddie had brought his hand down and pointed to the girls to start the webcast…

XxXxXxXxXx

"…and we're clear." Freddie hollered as the webcast came to an end. He smiled at them, "Another great show!"

The girls were about to thank him, when they heard Spencer's voice shout from the lower floor. "You guys rocked, tonight!"

"Thanks!" The girls hollered back down the stairs.

"Man, I'm hungry," Sam stated as she grabbed her Peppy cola and started down the stairs. Her friends grabbed their sodas and followed her down the steps.

Spencer was busy picking up the apartment and doing a little fall cleaning. He had taken a break from his cleaning to watch the webcast, and now he began to pick up from where he left off. Now that the web show was over, he could make all the noise he wanted. So he started singing, which Carly and her friends thought was really "just noise".

Sam had reached the fridge and was pulling out the bread and some left over ham. She quickly made herself a sandwich, and began chowing it down. Carly came to join her in the kitchen, and watched her eat. Carly could only smile and shake her head as she watched her friend go to town on the sandwich.

Freddie took a seat outside the kitchen, and was sitting at the computer deciding to go through the comment boards they received of their broadcast. He had just begun reading one, when Spencer hollered for him.

"Yo, Freddo," Spencer hollered from the living room. He was standing at the television, and was about to water some flowers that he put up there when something was stuck in the flowers.

Freddie got up from his chair and walked over to Spencer, "Yeah, what is it?" He asked.

Spencer turned to him, "Were you aware that you had one of your little web cameras were hiding in my flowers?" He asked suspiciously.

Sam looked up from her sandwich, and began to turn white. _Oh, no,_ she thought, _I forgot to get that camera and put it away._

"You found what in your flowers?" Freddie asked puzzled.

Carly intervened, "I didn't realize you had flowers in the apartment, Spence."

"Oh yeah," Spencer chirped happily, "they're for the ladies…when I have ladies over."

"When was the last time you had a lady over?" Carly asked grinning.

"Yeah…well…anyway, here you go, Freddie." Spencer squeaked as he handed Freddie the web camera.

"I wonder how long that's been there." Freddie asked to nobody in particular, "I know I had it with my stuff during last Friday's web show…"

"Yeah, you'd lose your brain if it weren't attached to that goofy head of yours." Sam chipped in as she was finishing her sandwich.

"Oh yeah Sam, let me know when you actually get a brain!" Freddie shot back; then he took the camera and ran back up the stairs to the studio.

Sam got down off her chair and decided to chase him up the stairs, "Quit stealing my lines, and come up with something original, you big dork!" She hollered. She disappeared up the stairs.

"Spencer?" Carly asked as she grabbed a pitcher to fill with water so that she could help water the flowers, "will those two ever get along?"

"In time, little sis," he replied as he was straightening the flowers, "in due time."

XxXxXxXxXx

Freddie was bending down putting his web camera back in its case in the studio, when Sam caught up with him.

"Didn't your mom ever teach you to put your toys away when you were through playing with them?" She asked slightly out of breath.

Freddie looked up and said plainly, "Well, didn't your mom teach you that it's not nice to take other people's things without asking them first?"

Sam narrowed her gaze, "What are you talking about?" She asked defensively.

"Oh come on, Sam," Freddie replied rolling his eyes, "Don't try to tell me that you didn't take out my webcam. You're always getting into my stuff, for who knows what reason." He shut the camera case back up and he stood up to put it where it belonged. "Probably just to annoy me," he finished.

_I hope he doesn't ask me why I used the camera_, Sam thought as she watched him put it away. "You know me," she stated a little sarcastically, "I just love to do things to you to watch you squirm."

Freddie began to walk back across the room toward Sam, he looked at her sadly as he walked and passed by her to have a seat on a beanbag chair.

Sam didn't understand the way Freddie looked at her, so she turned to him and asked, "What's the matter with you?"

Freddie looked up at her from the beanbag chair, "I thought that maybe after the day we had Wednesday, and the way we opened up and talked so well, that maybe I might still see that side of you now." He said with a hint of disappointment.

Sam sighed, then went over to the other beanbag chair in the room and sat down next to Freddie. "Freddie, I wasn't having a very good day that day. You know that." She said calmly.

He replied to her just as calmly, "So you're two different people when you're having two different kinds of days?"

She darkened her brows, "And you don't react the same way? You act like the same person when you're having a bad day versus having a good day?"

Freddie shook his head no. He just sighed, "I just thought that maybe we could try to be nicer to each other."

Sam quipped, "What fun is that for me?" She was trying to get Freddie to smile and go along with this, but wasn't getting a response from him.

"I wasn't saying that we couldn't tease each other, but I thought we could quit being so mean to one another." He replied rather blandly.

"Yeah, this is all great and dandy for you," Sam pushed forward raising her voice a bit, "but what do I get in return?"

"What do you want?" Freddie asked simply. He figured he was gonna have to compromise with his friend.

"Well…" she started, then stopped. Her expression changed, she became a little nervous of the request she wanted from him. She stood back up from the beanbag chair and began to slowly walk across the room to Freddie's equipment.

Alarmed by the fact that Sam was headed for his equipment, Freddie got up from his seat and followed her across the room, "Sam, what is it? What's the matter?" He asked interestedly.

Sam kept her back to Freddie, "I was called in to see my school consuelor today," she started quietly, "she said that I'm barely passing in my classes with an overall D- average. I guess she sent a note home to my mom earlier this week that my mom was supposed to sign and for me to bring back to school, and of course she didn't sign it." She started kicking at the floor, and she was holding her head down. "I was told today that since it appeared that I or my mom didn't care that I was doing so poorly, that I might get held back and not graduate on time."

"Sam," Freddie chimed in, "this is only the middle of September, are things that bad already?"

She nodded still looking down. "She told me that my lack of work is probably going to lead to me wanting to drop out of school," she paused for a second; then looked up and continued, "but she also told me that I still had time to get things right."

Freddie was looking down sadly as Sam spoke, but he looked to see that Sam had turned around to face him.

"Freddie…will you help me get my grades up?" Sam asked hoping for the right answer.

Freddie looked at her in surprise; then he smiled faintly, "You want to know if you and I can have study dates to try to save your education?"

Sam looked at him even more depressed, "Ugh! Do you have to put it that way? Dates! That's what you and Carly had."

"Okay, Okay," his smile broadening, "Sam, of course I'll help you! What kind of friend would I be if I refused you when you needed me the most?"

Sam finally brightened her face, "I thought maybe we could study for an hour or so every night, if that's okay with you?" She asked.

He nodded, "Sure."

Sam finally smiled, "Wow Fredward, you've come through for me twice this week; I think that's a record for you."

Freddie looked at her awkwardly but playfully, "What are you talking about? I come through for you on a daily basis."

Sam giggled. She then walked over to him, "Thanks Freddie." She said as she went to give him a hug.

_Wow, another hug?_ He thought as he went to hug her back. _I guess we are finally breaking some ground on our friendship._ "Ugh!" He cried as Sam gave him a wedgie before she backed off.

"I told you that you got lucky the other day, didn't I?" She smiled at him with a gleaming in her eyes.

Freddie quickly adjusted his pants and stared at Sam with a twinkle in his eye. He held up his hands, wiggled his fingers and said to Sam, "Revenge!"

Sam's eyes widen and she saw what Freddie was up to. She squealed, "Don't you dare, Freddie." But it was too late.

He began to chase her around the room. Sam squealed from excitement as she ran to the stairs. Freddie was laughing at her, and followed her down.

**A/N: I'd like to again thank everyone who has been sending reviews. A few of these chapters I'm on right now aren't going to be as dynamic as the last couple of chapters have been, but I hope you keep reading. I still have a ways to go yet.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Freddie walked into 2nd period algebra class the following Monday morning, and made his way to his seat. He was waiting for Sam, so they could talk about when and where to meet for their study "session".

It was a bright sunny morning outside. The weekend had been rather uneventful for him. Since he wasn't talking to Carly much these days he either was at home this past weekend, or he hung out with Jeremy. He couldn't quite remember a weekend where he wasn't constantly hanging out at the Shay apartment, but he was still rather upset with Carly over the pain she caused him. What frustrated Freddie more was that this Danny guy she was with wasn't really that much different than him. Carly had told him that she wanted to date a guy that was different than her. Yet, Danny was nice, smart and cute. _Doesn't look like he's different to me_, he had thought.

He was trying hard not to think about Carly or Danny, when he looked up to see Sam finally make it to the classroom and take her seat next to Freddie's.

Sam put her book bag on the floor quickly. She was finishing eating a powdered doughnut that she got out of a vending machine. History had been very dull for her this morning. First period on Mondays she was always just fighting to stay awake through the class. Now here she was in algebra a little more awake now, and more nourished.

Her weekend wasn't all that more exciting than Freddie's was. She and Carly had gone shopping Saturday helping Carly find something for her date with Danny. She then went to the movies that evening. She sat in the same movie as Carly and Danny did, but she didn't sit anywhere near them. Sam spent Sunday morning at the Shay's apartment hanging out, but left after lunch because Carly wouldn't stop talking about her date with Danny. It drove Sam ill just hearing Carly ramble on and on about it, so she spent the afternoon and evening at home with her mom who was surprisingly at home.

Sam only spoke to Freddie briefly during history, and that was to get his help on the homework that they had over the weekend, that she didn't do of course.

She looked over to him now, hoping that he could assist her with some algebra answers. Freddie rolled his eyes and hissed at her, "Did you do any homework at all this weekend?"

Sam was too busy looking at his paper for the answers to look up at him, "Would I be asking you for the answers if I did do my homework, duh!" She replied to him.

Freddie grabbed his paper from her, which caused her to hiss, "Hey!"

"Am I wasting my time helping you get your grades back up?" Freddie asked as he held his paper as far away from Sam as he could.

Sam tried to reach across Freddie to grab his paper, but had little success. When Freddie asked her about him wasting his time, she slowly backed off and said firmly, "Please Freddie, I just need to understand what I'm doing here with these math problems."

"Did you even bother to do…" he started.

"Yes! As a matter of fact," she said angrily as she showed him her paper, which showed she had indeed tried to do the homework.

Freddie looked at her paper and was scanning through her answers. He looked up at the clock and saw he still had a couple of minutes before class started. He brought his paper back down next to hers, and slid his desk cover so it was next to Sam's. "Here," he said softly, "let me show you how I got some of these answers."

Sam calmed down. She sat there and tried to understand what Freddie was trying to tell her about how to do some of these problems. She worked with him until the bell rang. Freddie moved his desk back to where it originally was.

Class began. Mr. Perry asked for the homework, and everybody handed in their papers. Sam was a little upset with Freddie because only some of her answers were right, and had he let her copy his paper they would have all been correct.

Mr. Perry began the next lesson. Freddie was watching the teacher show them how to do the next assignment in their algebra book. From time to time, he glanced over at Sam to see if she was paying attention. Sam looked at first as though she was trying to pay attention, but when she got lost trying to comprehend what she being taught, she started to lose focus, and she began staring off into space.

Mr. Perry gave them their assignment to do; then he went to sit down at his desk to grade papers. Freddie began doing the assignment work; he looked over to Sam and saw she was just kind of sitting there. Freddie raised his hand to get Mr. Perry's attention, and when he was able to get his attention, Freddie walked up to Mr. Perry's desk.

Sam saw Freddie raise his hand and get up and go to Mr. Perry. She watched palely as the teacher was looking at her while he was talking to Freddie. When Freddie walked back to his seat, she bent towards him at her desk and hissed, "What did you tell the teacher?"

Freddie sat back down, and moved his desk back over next to Sam's. "I told Mr. Perry that you were having some problems with the assignment, so I asked if I could help you with it. He agreed, as long as we didn't bother the other students." He answered.

"Freddie, this is hopeless," she whispered, "I'm probably never gonna understand what I'm doing."

"I won't let you fail." Freddie said, as he began to explain how to do the first question to her.

_Wow_, Sam thought as she listened to Freddie explain how to do the first problem, _this is the first time in so long that anyone has taken an interest in my education, or my future for that matter._ She nodded at Freddie, indicating that she understood how he came up with the answer. So she tried the second question herself, and when she made a mistake, Freddie politely came to her aid. _He could be a great teacher,_ she thought, _and for as much as he truly sounds like a nerd, I can actually understand what he's teaching me, and it makes sense._ She almost did the third question correctly by herself, Freddie pointing out one little mistake. She corrected it and went on to continue the assignment.

Freddie was impressed on how quickly she caught on. He went ahead and began working on his own homework. He stole glances over to Sam's paper to see if she needed assistance, but she was actually doing quite well.

They sat there for the remainder of class finishing the assignment. Freddie finished his homework first, and he put his paper in his book and closed it. Then he turned to see what Sam had left to do.

Sam was on the last problem trying to complete her work, while Freddie looked over her answers. He smiled at her when she completed her assignment; she looked up at him and smiled back.

"Great job," he said quietly but excitedly, "I didn't see any mistakes, it looks like all your answers are the same as mine," then he added, "and you didn't have to copy them off of me."

Sam snickered at him, but said warmly, "And I got done before class is over. I think that's a first this year." Just then the bell rang.

Freddie got up from his desk and grabbed his books, "Hey, I guess I'll see you in science."

"Wait, Freddie," Sam said as she got her book bag and followed him out of the classroom, "we never decided when or where to meet tonight."

"Oh, yeah," Freddie replied as he proceeded to walk with her to her locker. He had gym class next, so he wasn't in any hurry to get to his locker. "Let's study a couple hours after school every night…if that's okay?"

Sam nodded, "Let's study at my place Monday's and Wednesday's; study at your place Tuesday's and Thursday's, and maybe we can study at Carly's on Friday's before we do iCarly." Sam and Freddie had reached her locker.

He grinned, "Yeah, that'll work. I better get to gym." And with that, he took off down the hall.

Sam opened her locker and put her books away, _if he can be that good of a teacher in all my other subjects,_ she thought, _I might actually become an "A" student myself!_

She had health class next, so she grabbed her health book out of her locker and shut the door. She stopped for a second to daydream_, He didn't try to tease me with my learning or put me down in any way, and he showed a lot of patience. Is it possible that he might actually like me? I wish I knew what is going on in that freakish head of his._

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of giggling voices approaching her. She looked over to see Carly and Danny approach her locker. "Oh great," Sam muttered to herself sarcastically, "here comes the annoying duo."

"Hey Sam," Carly called out with Danny smiling right there at her side.

"Oh, hey Carls," she replied quickly as she began to start walking to class, "I got to get to class, but I'll see ya next period." Sam took off for class without even acknowledging Danny.

"Okay!" Carly hollered back. She shrugged at Danny, as if indicating to him that she didn't know why Sam just brushed on by him. Carly opened her locker, and got the books out for her next class.

"Wow, is she still mad about last week?" Danny asked Carly trying not to be hurt by the fact that his girlfriend's best friend just blew him off.

Carly smiled palely, "You just have to get to know Sam. She'll get over it in time." She shut her locker and reached up and gave her man a kiss on the lips. "I don't think I could ever get mad at you though," she smiled dreamily.

Danny smiled, and took Carly's hand. They both hurried down the hallway to their classes.

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam waited outside the school for Freddie. The rest of her school day didn't go too badly, although she got bored in health and English class because she couldn't concentrate on anything the teachers were saying. Science was a little better, since her friends were in there with her. Although Carly was her best friend, and her science partner, Sam kinda wished that Freddie was her partner so that they could work together. Science was one of Sam's favorite subjects (if she could pick anything about school that was the least bit fun) outside of lunch and gym class. She had a creative mind for the subject, and it didn't bore her like everything else in school. Carly didn't share Sam's interest in the subject, but Sam knew that Freddie did. Sam hoped that later in the week, when they would start a new project, that she could team up with Freddie.

Freddie finally made it out of the school, and caught up with Sam.

"Geez, slowpoke," Sam complained, "I could have been home by now."

"I'm sorry," he moaned, "but I forgot that I hadn't called my mom to let her know that I'd be going to your place to study." They started walking to Sam's place.

"Aw, man," Sam said, rolling her eyes, "how'd your freak-o mom react when you told her you'd be studying with me?"

"Oh, she freaked out all right," Freddie answered raising his eyebrows, "that's kinda the reason I was running behind, because I had to argue with her for a while, then I had to reason with her for a while, then so on, and so on…"

"Okay," Sam chuckled lightly, "I get it."

They made their way to Sam's house. Both of them were chatting to one another about their day. They had reached Sam's front door as their conversation was beginning to wind down.

Sam opened the door to the house, and she and Freddie walked in. "Mom," she hollered as they made their way to the dining room area, which would be the ideal place to study, "are you home?"

There was nothing but silence in the house. Sam motioned for Freddie to sit down at the dining room table while she went to the kitchen for some snacks. "Hey Freddo," she asked, "want a snack?"

"Sure," he answered, "just whatever you're having."

She came back in a couple of minutes later with some chips, a bowl of popcorn, and some Peppy Cola. She sat down. "I think I probably need more help with history than anything." Sam told him as she got her history homework out.

"Yes, let's start with history," Freddie replied as he got his homework out, "After all, you've already got your algebra homework done, and yours and Carly's science project is at school, so you can't really work on that."

"Oh, that reminds me Fredward," she spoke up suddenly, "when we finish this science project, and start the next one, will you be my science partner for the project?" Sam was turning her attention to her history book as she spoke.

Freddie looked at Sam and blushed lightly, "You want me to be your partner?" He asked surprised.

Sam looked up from her studies at Freddie, "Yes dork, that's what I'm asking." She said rather curtly.

Freddie's blush vanished, and his face was now red from disgust. "Fine, I guess I'll be your partner." He said like he didn't really want to now.

Sam smiled at him, "Great, now's let's start this history homework!"

So, they spent the next hour and a half working on history, health and English homework. Freddie reviewed the algebra they had learned for the day, and discussed their science projects.

It was approaching five o'clock, when Freddie stated, "I better get going. I think we got a lot accomplished this afternoon."

Sam got up and began clearing the table. "Yeah, it's amazing that I actually understand what I'm doing," she grinned to herself.

"You're very smart, Sam," Freddie stated as he got his books together and was getting ready to walk to the front door, "I really believe that we can get your grades up pretty quickly."

After Sam took the food and dishes to the kitchen, she caught up with Freddie at the front door. "Yeah, it'll be nice to go to school tomorrow, and not have to worry about copying homework from someone." She said proudly.

"Yeah, that will be different for you," he smiled faintly. He began to walk out the front door, when he turned to face Sam, "your mom is still not home," he said worriedly, "are you gonna be okay here by yourself?"

_Aw_, she thought, _the dork __**is**__ worried about me, he really __**does**__ care, how nice._ "Dude, I've been use to my mom showing up any hour of the night, it's not a prob," she said reassuring him.

Freddie kinda wrinkled his face, "Oh, okay then, I'll see ya at school tomorrow."

"Yep, see ya." She answered as she closed the door after he had walked out. She stood at her window and watched him walk away_. I'll bet he would have stayed if I asked him too, _she thought_, for such a nerd, he's probably the nicest, caring guy I've ever known. I'm not sure what I would do without him…_

XxXxXxXxXx

Freddie had looked back at Sam's place every now and again as he was walking back to his apartment complex. He was thinking about his study "date_", I really enjoy being around her when she's not being so mean to me. She actually does listen to me when she wants to. _ As he continued to walk, he began to really think about her_. I love to watch her do her work, _he thought smiling to himself, he hadn't realized it, but his daydreaming had caused him to close his eyes, _ she's so beautiful, her long flowing hair, those eyes, man, I love her eyes. And she always smells so good; I don't know if it's her perfume or soap or shampoo or maybe even…_

"Ow!" Freddie hollered as his daydreaming caused him to walk right into a telephone pole. He rubbed his forehead for a second for he had smacked it on the pole. He brushed himself off; then continued his walk, and his thoughts.

_But I can't have feelings for Sam now_, he thought to himself making sure he was watching where he was going this time_; I'm probably feeling this way because of what I felt for Carly. I definitely can't tell Sam how I feel, because she'd think I might want her because I can't have Carly. She'd feel like she was my second choice, and I don't want her to feel that way, because I don't know what I'm feeling._

Freddie was still rubbing the little sore on his forehead, _I need to spend some time with Sam and see what it is that I actually feel for her, and if I do want to be with her I can tell her at that time._

He reached his apartment building and went inside the lobby careful not to bother Lewbert. He got into the elevator and took it to his floor.

As he got out of the elevator and walked down the hallway to his apartment, he concluded his thoughts, _Sam has been a pretty good friend to me right now while I've been uncomfortable being around Carly. I'm not sure what I would do without her…_

**Author's Note: I know, this was a really long chapter. Freddie definitely has a lot on his mind, doesn't he? There is a reason in the upcoming chapters as to why I'm having Freddie wait to tell Sam his feelings. I like it better that he wants to explore the friendship first anyway. I hope you're still enjoying the story. Let me know what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

One month passed…

Carly and Danny's relationship continued to be fresh and exciting to both of them. They did spend a lot of time together, even during the week, and pretty soon Carly was spending more time with her boyfriend than her other friends. But Carly still put iCarly ahead of her busy "boyfriend" schedule. It didn't bother Danny any, he actually didn't mind having a "guys" night with his other friends on Friday's.

Sam would have probably been hurt by Carly ditching her like she was, but Sam was actually focused on getting her grades up to take notice. She still got to hang out with her best friend on Tuesday's, Thursday's, and Friday's, and even some time on the weekend. Sam was very smart, as Freddie had told her, and it didn't take her long to start getting her grades back up. By the time October began, she moved her overall "D-" average up to a "C+" average, and in the process moved her class ranking from the bottom 10% of her class to nearly cracking the top 50%. She and Freddie were working very well together during their study times.

Freddie, meanwhile, was now spending more time with some of his guy friends when he wasn't hanging around Sam. He and Jeremy were hanging out on the weekends, and sometimes they had Gibby tag along with them as well. Freddie was working closely with Sam and working on her study habits to improve them. He was very impressed at how well she was doing, and how much she had raised her grades in just a few weeks. Often, they would even challenge each other during their studies as she was getting more competitive with him on their grades. They did team up as partners in science class on projects, and they've been working very well together.

October was going by, and the leaves on the trees were changing color in Seattle. It was beginning to become jacket weather for the group as temps were starting to get a little cooler in the late afternoon and early evenings.

One Tuesday afternoon, Sam was walking over to Bushwell Plaza after school. She wasn't in the greatest of moods. Freddie had gotten a small case of the stomach flu the previous night, and he had to miss school. She wouldn't be able to study with him, but she was going to stop by and let him know what homework would be due the next day.

So, she stopped by Freddie's first, and talked to him for a couple of minutes. Freddie was feeling a lot better, but he thought that it probably wasn't a good idea for them to study. Sam told him about the assignments, made some comments about the way he looked (much to his displeasure), and walked over to Carly's.

"Hello, anybody here?" Sam hollered as she came right on in to their apartment.

"We're here in the kitchen," Spencer yelled from across the way.

Sam made her way into the kitchen and was headed to the kitchen when she stopped in her tracks. Right in the middle of the kitchen where the table would be was probably the biggest pumpkin Sam had ever seen. "Oh my gosh," she said, her eyes bugging out.

"Yep," Spencer said proudly, "as you can see, I am trying for the second straight year to create a giant jack-o-lantern. I think you guys remember what happened last year."

Indeed they had remembered. Spencer was making the jack-o-lantern when a bunch of neighboring kids stopped by the apartment trick or treating. Spencer had forgotten to get candy for Halloween, and he was giving the children odd items for their treats. The kids took revenge on Spencer when they rolled the big pumpkin (with him in it I might add) into the elevator; out of the building, and down the street.

"How did you get that thing in here?" Sam asked, her eyes were still bulging. Carly was standing right beside her brother shaking her head.

"It's the first project he's had since August," she said, as she began to walk into the living room, "and don't ask how he got it in here, I'm more worried about how he's going to get it out of here when he's through."

"My friend Socko sent it up the elevator like he did with the one I had last year," Spencer answered, as he was looking over his pumpkin.

"By the way," Carly grinned, "are you going to remember to buy candy this year for the trick or treaters?"

"Come over here," Spencer said as he hurriedly went towards the back hallway to his room. He pulled out a huge foot locker, and dragged it to the front room. He opened it so he could let Carly and Sam see inside. The foot locker was filled to the brim with bags of Halloween candy. "I didn't forget the lesson I learned last year about kids during Halloween," he said as he reclosed the locker and pushed it back towards his room.

Carly giggled, "I know that's a lesson you'll never forget." Carly was motioning for Sam to come follow her into the other room.

Sam walked back into the kitchen to the fridge first and grabbed a deli tray that was in there; then she brought it into the living room so she could sit down with her friend and talk.

"So, no study date for you and Freddie tonight because he's sick?" Carly asked as she sat down on the couch with her friend.

Sam shook her head, "He told me he's feeling better, and he's looking better than he was this morning. I don't know who he's kidding; he'll never be better looking." She teased.

Carly smiled at her friend's joke. She and Freddie were finally on speaking terms again after a long time. He explained to Carly why it took so long, and she understood. Now she enjoyed her friendship with Freddie more because she didn't have to worry about the way he looked at her now.

Sam was making a little bit of a mess with the deli tray, so Carly got up and went back into the kitchen for some plates and napkins. While she was in there, the doorbell rang. "Oh Sam," she hollered, "Would you please go get the door?"

Sam put her food down and got up, "Sure thing cupcake," she said as she walked over to open the door. She smiled a bit, because she was expecting Freddie to be on the other side. The person that was standing behind the door, however, made Sam frown.

"Oh, hey Sam," Danny said as he greeted her before he came in through the doorway.

Sam just nodded to him. "Great," she muttered to herself, "Wonderboy is here." She walked back around the front of the living room and made her way back into the kitchen to see what Spencer was doing.

"Hi sweetie," Carly smiled as she came back from the kitchen with the plates and napkins. She set them down on the coffee table, then turned to Danny and gave him a kiss.

"Hey you," he replied, and kissed her back, "Sorry I didn't call before I came by, but I wanted to tell you that I'm going to get reservations to the Jaffe' Restaurant for our one month anniversary that we're celebrating on Saturday."

"I wish our one month didn't fall on a Friday…" Carly was saying.

"No sweat," Danny smiled, "I know how important iCarly is to you, so you do your web show, and this weekend, you're mine…if that's okay with your brother, of course."

"You know I have no problem with you, Dann-o." Spencer stated while he was standing over his pumpkin, marking the spot that he would start to carve with his chainsaw.

"Great," Danny said as he and his girlfriend sat down on the couch. Danny was looking at the food, plates and napkins on the coffee table. "Was I interrupting anything by the way?" He asked concerned.

"No," Carly replied looking around for Sam, "we were just hanging out, and Sam was eating." Carly saw that Sam was in the kitchen sitting in a chair watching Spencer finish making his marks on his pumpkin.

Danny followed Carly's gaze into the kitchen. "Your friend is never gonna like me, is she?" He asked rather glumly.

"I'm sorry," Carly replied somewhat depressed, "Sam is who she is."

Danny looked at Sam for a second, then smiled to Carly and said, "I think I know how to fix this. You remember my friend David?"

Sure she remembered him. David Gomez was a friend of Danny's he had met on a trip to Olympia. David had come up to Seattle a few times to hang out, and that's how Carly met him. David had a Mexican accent and complexion to him, but he was very nice, and VERY cute.

"So, what about him?" She asked.

"I showed him that picture of you guys on the set of iCarly, and he really thought that Sam was pretty hot." He replied trying to paint a picture for Carly.

"Okay," Carly said, nodding her head as if she understood was Danny was planning.

"Why don't we try to hook them up? He's coming into town this weekend." He now looked at Carly straight-faced. "If you don't mind, we could have them double date with us on Sunday."

Carly smiled, "This all sounds great, if I can get Sam to agree with it."

Danny smiled back, "Great, I'll let David know. Let Sam know it won't be anything fancy. We can make an afternoon and an evening of it." He looked at his watch. "Hey, I gotta get going."

"Oh, but you didn't stay very long," Carly moaned as she got up from the couch.

Danny also got up from the couch and headed for the door, "Sorry, but my folks are expecting me. Besides, it looks like you might have work to do to get Sam to come on Sunday." He stated as he looked into the kitchen at Sam who had her back turned to them while she watched Spencer. He gave his girl a quick kiss; then he strolled out of the apartment.

Carly shut the door behind her man, and walked back to the couch. "Okay Sam, he's gone," she said dully as she sat back down.

Sam got up from her seat in the kitchen, and walked back to the couch and sat back down next to her friend. "So what did you two talk about?" She asked as she got back to work devouring that deli tray. _As if I really care,_ she thought.

Carly smiled, "Actually, we were talking about you."

Sam began choking on a piece of turkey when she heard Carly's response. "Me?" She asked after she regained her composure.

Carly nodded, "You don't have any plans this weekend, do you?"

Sam didn't think she liked where this was going, but she didn't want to try to make up an excuse for what she would rather be doing. She looked at Carly and said, "No…"

"Good," Carly said, "Because you are going to join me and Danny on a double date on Sunday." She sat back on the couch, just dying to see Sam's reaction.

"Gee Carls," Sam said with a narrowed gaze, "That's all fine and dandy and all, but I was always under the impression that FOUR people going out together at the same time was a double date."

"Oh, there will be a FOURTH person coming on this double date," Carly said somewhat curtly, "You will be joined by one of Danny's friends…"

"Nope, nope, nope," Sam began as she put the rest of the food back down on her plate, "I don't do blind dates," she sat back against the cushions of the couch. She had lost her appetite, "…especially with one of Danny's little friends."

"Sam, you don't even know him yet," Carly said defensively.

"If it's one of Danny's friends, I don't like him already." Sam stated as she crossed her arms together.

Carly was getting a bit frustrated with her friend, "He's really cute, and nice, and he wants to date you."

Sam rolled her eyes up and kept them there, "Oh, please," she said slightly agitated, "how could you possibly know that he would want to go out with me?"

"I've met him a couple of times," Carly answered, "Danny, he, and I have sat down a few times and talked. I told him about my best friend, and showed him a picture of you. You should have seen the way his eyes lit up when he saw you. He really wants to meet you. He lives in Olympia, but visits on the weekends."

"Oh dandy," Sam said annoyed, "he doesn't even live here in Seattle. This is just getting better and better."

Carly was silent. She couldn't do much more persuading at this point. She could really only beg Sam at this point. She looked at Sam with her famous puppy dog eyes and said, "Please?"

Sam looked at Carly giving her the puppy dog eyes and quickly looked the other way, "Oh, no," she replied getting up from the couch to get away from her friend, "don't give me that look."

Carly got up from the couch as well, and chased her friend around the apartment. She kept whining "please?" all the while, and Sam kept replying "no" right back at her. At one point, they went by Spencer in the kitchen. When he saw his sister's puppy dog eyes, he even whined to Sam to do it.

After a couple of minutes of listening to the Shay siblings whining at her, Sam shouted, "Alright, but under one condition. I want to see a picture of him first."

Carly smiled, "Done."

Sam rubbed her eye temples, and sat back down on the couch to finish the deli tray. _I am so gonna regret this_, she thought.

**Author's Note: Ahh, what do we have here? A delay for Seddie? I hope everyone will like where I'm going with this in the next couple of chapters. I always appreciate hearing what you all think. **


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

After Sam had left that evening, Carly gave Danny a call to tell him about the stipulation that Sam made if she were to go with them on Sunday.

Unfortunately, Danny didn't have a picture of David, so he had to call his friend to make arrangements to get the picture. The soonest Danny could get it was Thursday night. So he asked his folks to drive him down to Olympia. But then, he forgot to bring it to school on Friday. So, before he went out with his friends that evening, Danny came by the Shay's, and dropped it off with Spencer, because Carly and her friends were busy with iCarly.

After the webcast was over, the girls came down for snacks, while Freddie was busy cleaning up and putting away his equipment. While Sam headed to the fridge, Spencer called Carly into the other side of the kitchen where he was working on his pumpkin sculpture, and handed her the picture of David that Danny had dropped off.

"Oh Sam," Carly called to her friend, "I have something for you."

Sam looked back at her friend from out of the fridge, "You made a cake?" She asked hopingly.

Carly smiled, "No, better than that," she smirked as she joined her friend by the fridge, "a picture of your date on Sunday."

Sam frowned, "Darn," she muttered, and stuck her head back in the fridge.

"Aw, c'mon Sam," she said anxiously, "just take a look at him."

Sam grabbed a bowl of mixed fruit, and shut the refrigerator. She rolled her eyes at her friend as she walked into the living room with the food. "Bring the picture in here, and I'll take a look at the boy," she sighed.

Carly came into the living room and handed Sam the picture.

Sam took it, and looked at the image. Her eyes widened, "Wow," she said, "he is actually cute."

"So you'll double date with us Sunday?" Carly asked.

Sam winced, "I don't know. Are you sure he really wants to date me?"

"Yes!" Carly exclaimed. "He's coming up from Olympia only to see you."

"I haven't been on a date-date before," Sam said embarrassingly, "what am I going to wear?"

"It's just a casual date," Carly smiled, "wear whatever you want. Be yourself."

Sam sighed. "I'll think about it tomorrow…" She started.

"…and you'll be here at 11 am Sunday morning." Carly finished.

Sam shook her head, "Fine, but now I'm going home." She said as she went to grab her jacket by the door.

"You're not spending the night?" Carly asked surprised, "It's Friday night."

"I know," Sam answered, "But my mom is actually home right now, and has no place to go this weekend, or nothing to do. She is actually gonna spend time with me this weekend."

Carly's eyes widened, "Gee that's great, Sam," she said somewhat excited, "do you think she'll let you go out on Sunday?"

"I'm sure it won't matter," Sam answered without really thinking about it, "she probably won't even realize I'm gone. Anyway, I got's to go." Sam headed out the front door.

Carly walked back towards the couch to grab the empty fruit bowl. "My, that girl can eat fruit," she said to no one in particular. Spencer was too focused on his pumpkin sculpture to listen to anything being said within a few feet from him.

She had just gotten the bowl washed and put away, when Freddie came downstairs. "Oh," she said startled, "I guess I forgot you were still here."

"Sorry I scared you," he replied, "I was doing more of a maintenance night with the equipment. I wanted to make sure everything was cleaned and running well." He walked over by the door to grab his backpack so he could go home across the hall.

"You're heading out?" Carly asked as she joined him by the front door.

"Yeah," he answered, "gonna spend the whole day with Jeremy and Gibby hanging out throughout town." Freddie started looking around the room. "Where's Sam?"

"She actually went home, and on a Friday night." She answered impressively.

"Whoa," Freddie said, his eyes wide, "that's amazing. Well, I'll see you later." He walked out the door, and crossed the hall to his apartment.

"Have a good weekend if I don't see you." She called out to him. She shut the door, and ran upstairs to get ready for bed. She had a long weekend ahead of her.

XxXxXxXxXx

Carly did have a wonderful time with Danny on Saturday night. He did take her to Jaffe' Restaurant and had a nice romantic dinner. Then, he took her to the movies to see a girl flick. Finally, he took her to an ice cream parlor for a little dessert. It was a nice way to celebrate a one month anniversary. He even gave her a card, and flowers.

Carly spent much of Sunday morning calling Sam, and begging her to join her, Danny, and David for the day. She wasn't sure if her friend was going to show, but finally Sam arrived at the Shay's.

The double date went very well. Sam and David hit off real well, and actually enjoyed each other's company. They went for a long walk through the park, ate at McDaniel's, did some goofy golfing, and went to the bowling alley. Sam hadn't looked so happy, or looked as though she was enjoying herself in a long time. She and David did get a few times alone together. They were holding hands much of the day, and joking around with each other, and playing pranks on one another.

All in all, it was a very good weekend.

XxXxXxXxXx

Freddie was walking over to Sam's apartment. It was approaching noon on this very nice Sunday afternoon. Temps were near the 70's, and it was sunny. He was looking forward to getting their homework done quickly so maybe they could take in the outside.

They had agreed to alternate locations on the weekends to study. This weekend was at Sam's apartment. When they met over here two weeks ago, Sam had said the best time to study would be around lunch time. And it worked very well that day.

Freddie had reached the front door to Sam's place, and rang the doorbell. He looked around up and down the sidewalk and watched the many people making their way through city on this gorgeous day. Freddie just assumed stay outside as well.

He turned back to the door. Nobody had answered, so he rang the bell again. Finally, he heard some movement from behind the door. It opened and their stood Ms. Puckett, only it wasn't the female he was expecting.

"May I help you with something?" Ms. Puckett asked as she stared at Freddie.

"Oh, hi Ms. Puckett," he answered surprisingly, "I'm here to study with Sam."

She stared blankly at him. "You're Freddie, right?"

"Yes ma'am," he answered politely.

"Hang on," she said and went back into the apartment.

Freddie could hear her yelling for her daughter. This made him feel uncomfortable. He had only seen Ms. Puckett at the house a couple of times since he and Sam began their studies. Usually, Sam and he were alone in the apartment studying.

After a few minutes, Ms. Puckett returned to the doorway, "I guess she's not here." And with that, she shut the door.

"Guess she's not here?" Freddie muttered to himself. _Boy, Sam wasn't kidding about her mom not paying any attention to what she does,_ he thought.

Freddie grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and called Sam. But the call went straight to the voicemail. _Aw, she doesn't even have her phone on,_ he thought annoyed.

He didn't leave her a message. He put his phone in his pocket and began to walk back home.

_I wonder where she is?_ He thought.

**Author's Note: Oops, did somebody get left out of the loop? Many things in the next few chapters put Sam and Freddie's friendship to the test. Thanks again to all who review, I'm interested to see what everybody thinks about what's happening. – kwags74**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Freddie was out of breath when he got to his locker on Monday morning, but luckily he wasn't late for history.

The beautiful day they had had on Sunday, turned into an ugly evening as a thunderstorm rumbled through the area overnight. It had caused the electricity to temporarily go out, and thus it shut down Freddie's alarm clock. He was such a heavy sleeper, that he slept through the storm, but he had no alarm to wake him up. It took his mom nearly throwing him out of bed to get him up this morning.

He hurried to get dressed; grabbed a bite to eat; then he ran down the damp Seattle streets on this overcast morning to get to school on time.

After he grabbed his history homework, he slipped into the classroom with a few minutes to spare before the bell. He saw Carly and Sam talking with one another. He took his seat unnoticed by the girls.

"So you guys actually were holding hands on the first date," Carly said excitedly, "Did you guys kiss too?"

"Nothing real passionate," Sam smiled, blushing a bit, "but, yeah."

Carly giggled, "So are you going to see him again?"

"Next weekend," Sam sighed happily, "Carls, thank you so much for setting me up with him. I guess I'm gonna have to owe you one."

"Aw, you don't owe me anything," Carly said her smile widening, "I'm just glad that you're happy, and that we can actually start doing stuff on the weekends again."

Freddie was stunned. He had been sitting quietly listening to his friends talk about the previous day. He couldn't believe that Sam was no longer available to date. _I waited too long,_ he thought, _I should have told her how I felt; now it might be too late._

"Yeah, that will be fun," Sam said, "It'll be nice to make plans to do stuff with the boys."

"See, I told you on the phone yesterday morning that there would be nothing to get nervous about." Carly stated.

"Uh-huh," Sam returned with a little giggle, "but you wore my battery on my phone down so much with your calling that I had to leave it home yesterday to charge it."

_That explains why she didn't pick up her phone yesterday,_ Freddie thought. He couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. Of course, they were talking so loud that most of the class heard them.

Finally, the bell rang and class began. Mrs. Wood asked for everyone to turn in their homework for the weekend.

Sam finally finished her conversation with Carly, and reached into her history book for her homework. To her disbelief, it wasn't completed. _How did I not get this done this weekend?_ She thought. Then she remembered.

"Freddie," she whispered, "I forgot we had a study date yesterday."

Freddie turned around and looked at her, "Yes, I know you did," he answered annoyed.

"Did you come by my house yesterday?" She inquired.

"Yeah, around noon," he continued answering her questions annoyingly, "Your mom answered the door, said she didn't know where you were, didn't even know you were gone, and slammed the door in my face."

"Yeah," Sam smiled, "that's my mom. Now you know where I get that." She gave Freddie her homework to give to the teacher.

Freddie was not amused. He took her paper, added his to the pile, and sent them forward. He faced the front shaking his head slightly.

"What's bothering you?" Sam asked rather curtly, as she observed Freddie was acting a little different around her.

He only turned his head to the side, and answered, "I'll talk to you about it later."

_I have a feeling that this going to be one of them long days my mother told me about,_ he thought as he began taking notes from the teacher on the next lesson.

XxXxXxXxXx

The bell rang, and history class came to an end. Freddie quickly grabbed his books and bolted out of the room.

Carly saw Freddie zoom out of the class. She turned to Sam, "What's wrong with Freddie today?" She asked as she grabbed her history books.

Sam had her homework and was ready to head out of the classroom, "What isn't wrong with Freddie, have you looked at him?" She snarled.

"No, seriously Sam," Carly inputted.

Sam sighed, "I forgot that he and I had a study date yesterday. He came over to my place and everything, and he had to deal with my mom."

"Oh," Carly said with her eyes wide.

"However," Sam continued, "I think that there's something else on his dweebish little mind. I see him next period, and I'm gonna find out what his problem is."

She and Carly went into the hallway and headed for their lockers. They got ready for their next classes, and bid each other farewell; they would see each other again in fourth period English class.

Sam entered the algebra classroom, and saw Freddie seated looking through his answers. She made her way to her seat, grabbed Freddie's pencil out of his hand, and tossed it to the back of the room.

Freddie looked at her with a little disgust, but he reached into his folder, grabbed another pencil, and continued going through his homework.

Sam shook her head and sat down. She got her homework out and scanned through it quickly to make sure that she did get this homework done. She turned to Freddie and grabbed his pencil out of his hand and pointed at him with it. "All right Freddo, spill it. What's your prob?" She asked annoyed.

Freddie snatched his pencil back from her, and set it down. "I thought you and I were friends, why didn't you tell me you had a date yesterday?" He asked indifferently.

"Who-oa, 'Friend'," Sam growled, "I didn't know that I had an obligation to tell 'you' about everything that goes on in my personal life."

"That's not what I asked," he howled back, and pointed his finger at her, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"If you must know," Sam answered, pushing his hand out of her way, "this was all set up by Carly at the last minute. I wasn't even really going to go, but I saw how cute the guy was, and I thought I'd at least meet him and see how things went. Besides, I'm getting tired of being a third wheel to Carly and Danny." She looked away from him and stared up front.

"So, do you like this guy, if you don't mind me asking?" He asked softening his tone a bit.

Sam continued to stare forward, "I really had a fun day yesterday," she said calmly, "David was really nice, and he seemed to really get me." She slumped in her chair a bit.

"So, I guess this means that you don't want to hang with me anymore, huh?" Freddie said glumly.

"Is that what's the matter with you?" Sam smirked, "David lives in Olympia, so I'm only going to be able to see him on the weekend. Were you afraid I was going to replace my favorite dork?" Her smile broadened.

Freddie shook his head and rubbed his face. Then he shrugged.

"Don't worry, Freddork," she continued to smile, "you're not getting replaced. We can still study and stuff. You are coming to my place after school today, aren't you?"

"You gonna be there today?" He shot back.

Sam gave him a look, and answered, "Yes, I'll be there today…unless my man is in town." She laughed at this; then she faced the front as the bell rang and class began.

**Author's Note: Freddie is a little jealous here, huh? As much as he's kicking himself right now for waiting too long to tell Sam his feelings, he's about to enter a more important role in her life soon: The good friend. Sometimes that job is not always easy. Thanks to all who continue to post your thoughts and comments, please continue to do so. **


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

October was quickly going by. The leaves from the trees were pretty much off of the trees now, and the weather continued to cool.

Spencer completed his pumpkin sculpture. This project was a little different, and more complex than the one he was supposed to do last year. This pumpkin took about a few days to get the work done on it. But it seemed to take a week to get it out of the apartment, and through the building. This pumpkin had to be dealt with delicately. He caused Lewbert to have a fit when he had to bring it through the front lobby. It took several people to lift it on a truck and have it delivered to Lubby's pumpkin plant. The CEO loved the work Spencer put in and paid Spencer very well for his creation.

Carly and Danny's relationship continued to do well, and they continued to be very much into each other. They really never fought with one another, and actually it seemed at times that they were too polite with one another.

Even though Sam and David only saw each other on the weekends, their relationship was blossoming as well. They talked nightly on the phone, and tried to spend at least a few hours on Saturdays and Sundays with each other.

Freddie had never felt so utterly alone. He didn't hang around the girls on the weekends anymore, and now, he even had a hard time hanging out with his guy friends. Now that Jeremy wasn't always sick anymore, he began to build up some self confidence. He cleaned up his appearance, and lost some weight. He really began to become a babe magnet, and now he was always going on dates on the weekends. So the only person Freddie could really hang out with was Gibby, and even that wasn't very often.

He and Sam continued to study together, but their chemistry wasn't the same. It was getting kind of boring. Sam would get phone calls from David at times while they were studying, and the time the two of them took talking would drive Freddie crazy. Freddie would never show Sam how frustrated he was, but it made it increasingly difficult to study with her.

Sam's grades were continuing to improve though, because of the study sessions. Her overall average had moved to a "B", and she was approaching the top 25% of her class.

Freddie, though, was constantly distracted by his feelings for her, and it made it difficult to be around her. Now that she had a boyfriend, he wanted to protect her from possibly being hurt by this guy, and this made Freddie think about Sam even more. In addition, he was second guessing himself on the decision he had made to wait and tell Sam how he felt about her. He kind of wished he would have told her right away now. But he remembered the reason why he didn't tell her, and all he could hope for was something to happen that might turn things around. So he decided to just be content with being just her friend for now.

Freddie had used the last of his money from Daka (the shoe company they signed a contract with this past spring to sponsor their shoes) to get a gym membership at Bold's Gym earlier in October. He signed up for four passes so that he and his friends could use them to work out. Freddie gave one to Jeremy, and one to Gibby. He had saved the other for Sam, and he had invited her to go with them sometime. She just kinda laughed the invitation off, and said she would embarrass them if she went with them. But Freddie held on to her pass anyway. He and his friends always went after school on Friday; then sometimes would go on the weekends as well.

One Saturday early in November, Freddie was walking home from Bold's Gym, where he had met Gibby to work out. The gym was located about a half mile just past the school, and his path would take him by Sam's apartment on the way to his house. He was about four blocks from her apartment, when he noticed her and David going for a walk. He really wanted to try to avoid them, but Sam saw him and cried out, "Yo, Freddo."

He unenthusiastically caught up with them, "Oh, hey," he said slightly out of breath.

"So, where you going?" She asked as the three of them continued on their way.

"Home," Freddie replied, "I just came from the gym." He looked at Sam nod and giggle. Freddie gave her a look.

"Okay Sam," David butted in, "you lost that last round, because you called out to your friend, and now we're tied. Are you ready to go again?" He asked.

"Just a sec, sweetie," she smiled; then she turned to Freddie, "David and I are playing the silent game, and neither of us is suppose to speak." She turned back to David, "Ok, go!"

_These guys and their silly games, _Freddie thought, _but at least I won't have to listen to them._

The three of them walked down the sidewalk in silence. Sam and David were holding hands while they walked. It was really a nice day for the second weekend of November; a lot of people were out and about today.

They were approaching a couple of good looking girls walking towards them, the three of them walked on the grass to let them pass. Freddie couldn't help to notice their beauty, and they smiled and seemed to be looking back at him. Then Freddie realized that the girls were looking at David, and he was gazing at them.

Freddie got a weird look on his face. _Was David just eyeing those girls right in Sam's presence?_ He thought to himself. He looked over at Sam and David. They were continuing to walk as if nothing had happened. _Did I just imagine that?_ He wondered.

They were less than a block from Sam's, when another good looking female approached them. This time, Freddie looked at David as the girl walked by them and she continued in the opposite direction. Sure enough, David was gazing at the girl the entire way, and it almost appeared that he mouthed something to her as she passed. The girl had even turned around to look at David for a second after they had passed her before she continued on her way. Sam hadn't noticed a thing.

This angered Freddie; _He has the nerve to flirt with other girls while walking holding hands with his girlfriend. Who does he think he is, some sort of a player or something? _ Freddie thought as they finally came to Sam's front door.

Since Sam and David were still playing their silent game, they both only waved to Freddie as they went inside the house. Freddie just grinned and nodded to them before continuing on his way. He was bothered by what he observed about David. He was more worried about what would happen if Sam witnessed David's actions. Freddie didn't want to see Sam hurt, but he was unsure of what he should do about this. He spent the rest of his walk home deciding whether or not to tell her about David.

XxXxXxXxXx

"So why do they call this treaty 'The Compromise of 1820'?" Sam was asking trying to hold back a smile. She and Freddie were sitting in her dining room area doing history homework the following Monday.

Freddie frowned at her for a second, "Well, mostly because the North and the South were trying to bring in both a free state and a slave state into the Union at the same time. And it happened in 1820." He glared at her when she saw that she was laughing at him.

"Oh Freddie, you're such a blast to tease…and study with," she giggled.

Freddie perked up a bit, "I ought to give you a reason to laugh," he smirked, as he held up his fingers to make it look like he was going to tickle her.

This made Sam laugh even harder, "Oh what? You're gonna use your strong muscles you're developing by going to a gym to hold me down while you tickle me?" She laughed again. Sam talking about the gym made Freddie remember what happened on his walk home Saturday. He calmed down and turned back to his studies.

Sam finally stopped laughing, and tried to calm down. Freddie didn't answer her question, and she didn't like his expression when she asked him. She looked at him. It looked like he had something on his mind. "All right nerd, something's on your mind, tell me what it is?" She asked plainly.

Freddie raised his head from his studies, and turned to Sam, "You really like David, don't you?"

Sam gave him a weird look, "Of course I do, you dork. Why would you ask me such a silly question?" She asked blandly.

"I mean, you think he's a good guy, right?" He asked, afraid of what he might start if he told her what he saw the other day.

"Okay, spill it, what is it you want to say about my boyfriend?" Sam narrowed her gaze.

Freddie took a breath, then answered, "When we were walking home Saturday, I noticed David…eyeing other girls."

Sam's expression continued to darken, "Um, say that again?"

"I'm saying that he's ogling or flirting with other girls without you noticing." He sputtered out.

Sam's face was turning red from anger, "Are you saying that my David is…a player or something?" She growled.

Freddie nodded; then closed his eyes as a glass of water was thrown in his face.

"Freddie Benson! I can't believe that you of all people would have the nerve to make me unhappy!" She shouted. "Why would tell a bold-face lie right to my face?"

"I wish I was lying, Sam," he replied shaking the water from his hair, "but I know what I saw."

Sam slammed her textbook shut. "Get out Freddie." she said firmly, "Oh, and I think I'm finally doing well enough in school now to where I don't need your assistance; so we're done with these study sessions."

Freddie gathered his things together, "Sam, don't do this," he said sadly.

"I don't know if you're just jealous because you're the only one without somebody, or if you're just trying to get back at me for the pranks I pull on you, but right now I don't care. I just want you gone." Sam said firmly as she began to walk to the front door.

Freddie walked up to the door, "Sam, I'm trying to prevent you from getting hurt." He said.

Sam shook her head sadly, "I thought you were like one of my best friends. Real friends don't do this to each other."

Freddie stepped out the door, "Real friends tell the truth." He finished as Sam slammed the door in his face.

He walked sadly home, hoping that time would heal these emotional wounds.

**Author's Note: I hurt in my heart from this chapter as well. This is the darkest hour of their relationship; so things can only get better, right? This marks the halfway point in the story. Thanks again to all who've reviewed and commented! – kwags74**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was a strenuous week for Freddie when it dealt with Sam.

Sam wouldn't even speak to Freddie all week; at school, when they met at Carly's to prepare for iCarly, and for iCarly. She just couldn't understand why Freddie would try to make her unhappy by making up stories about him. Now she was afraid about trusting David fully.

Sam's abuse on Freddie hadn't stopped; she was still having pranks pulled on him. What was worse was the fact that Sam was doing it out of spite and anger, and not for fun. Freddie knew he hit a bad chord with her, so he chose not to fight back, and decided to take her abuse. It was a dreadful week, and he decided to stay away from her.

Even Carly and Spencer asked her about what had happened, but Sam wouldn't answer the question. They even started to really feel sorry for Freddie, but since Freddie never complained, they dropped it.

Now that he was free after school, Freddie decided to go to the gym every day. He regularly met with Jeremy and Gibby to work out. He needed something to fill the void left from not studying with Sam.

Even though she was angry and upset with Freddie, she still missed studying with him in the evenings. Her passion to get her grades up was put on hold, because she didn't have the drive now. All she wanted to do was either hang out at Carly's or just talk to David on the phone. She was looking forward to seeing him on the weekend.

Saturday, she and David went to the movies and had a great time. When he came back up the next day, they decided to try out a new indoor amusement park that had just grand opened in the downtown district.

The place was called Marina Land, and it was huge, with video games, a dance floor, several large slides, a skateboarding area, and a restaurant just to name a few of the main attractions.

It seemed to be a big hit with the teenagers, as a vast majority of the people that were there on this Sunday afternoon were teenie-boppers. Sam had noticed that there were a lot of good looking girls that were enjoying themselves, and having remembered what Freddie told her earlier in the week, she wanted to get the opportunity to prove Freddie wrong. So, she decided to watch David to see if he was indeed flirting.

Sadly, as the day progressed it turned out that he was flirting with other girls. The first time he did it, it shocked her and angered her a bit, but she decided to let it go. Then, he bluntly did it a second time, and Sam punched him in the arm and barked at him about what he did. David tried to calm Sam down and told her he was "making the other girls jealous". She didn't buy that though, and went on being mad at him the rest of the afternoon.

But Marina Land was a fun place to hang, so when she and David returned home, they told their best friends about it. Danny and Carly both liked the sound of the place, so they decided that all four of them should go the next weekend.

Sam didn't tell Carly about what happened with David at the park, and she sure wasn't going to admit to Freddie that he was right about David. But now that Sam saw that Freddie had told her the truth, she began to lighten up on him a bit.

Freddie was glad to see Sam being a little more civil to him as the next week rolled along, but he never asked her why. He was even invited by Sam to come to the amusement park on Sunday. Freddie told her that he might be there, and if he were to go that he's find his own way there. He didn't want to go with them since he would feel "out of place" with the four of them.

Freddie never really tried to pursue any girl at school to be his girlfriend, despite the fact that he was getting tired of being the odd man out of his group. He only had feelings for Sam, and it drove him crazy at times. Even when she was at her worst like she was last week, he just couldn't help but feel compassion for her. He knew his feelings for her were much different than the feelings he had had for Carly.

Finally, Sunday came, and the girls along with their boyfriends arrived at Marina Land. They arrived just before lunch time, so they decided to go to the eatery to grab a bite before they roamed the park. They went into The Fishy Food Joint to fill their stomachs. The boys treated the girls to huge platters of fish and chips, and they washed it down with Peppy Cola. They later left the restaurant and decided to hit the arcade first while their stomachs settled.

After an hour playing video games they came back out and decided they wanted to go on the huge slides.

David said to the gang, "Hey look, they got the tunnel slide going this week. They didn't have it open last time me and Sam were here." Sam and her friends looked over at the slides, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah," Sam said excitedly, "we've got to try that out first." Sam grabbed her boyfriend's hand and pulled him up the stairs that led to the top of the slide. Danny and Carly were only a few paces behind them trying to catch up.

The long set of stairs took them to either the big wide slide (which was the only one open last week), or the tunnel slide. Each slide traveled the same distance and they were positioned at the same height. The big wide slide could hold a half dozen people going down at the same time. Each person had their own lane. It was wavy at the beginning of the ride; then shot straight down at the end. There was even some stop clocks at the bottom of each lane that could be used if a group wanted to go down at the same time. They could then race each other to the bottom, and see who was the fastest.

The tunnel slide was a very narrow slide that was wavy all the way to the bottom for the most part. There was a place in the middle where it dropped though. The slide was enclosed from about a foot from the top all the way until you reach the bottom and it opened up again about ten feet from the end.

As expected, there were lines for the narrow slide, but the gang didn't care. Sam led the front of the group, followed by David and Danny, and Carly brought up the rear. The worker at the slide had the next person wait about thirty seconds before she let that person go. The worker couldn't see anything happening in the slide, and could barely see the exit at the bottom.

Finally, it was Sam's turn to go. "Oh, this is going to be so cool," she said smirking. And she sat down then pushed her way through the opening and disappeared down the slide.

David looked down the outside of the tunnel to see if he could see Sam get out. Just as the worker told him he could go, he saw Sam exit the slide at the bottom. "I'll see you guys at the bottom!" He told his friends as he disappeared down the slide.

Sam and David stood by the entrance stairs patiently as they waited for Danny and Carly to go through. All of them were smiling after the first trip.

"Hey," Danny said, as they began to start going up the stairs again, "let's do the other slide together and see who makes it to the bottom first." The other three smiled as they nodded in agreement.

They got up the steps a little quicker this time, and walked over to the other slide. They told the worker that was working this slide that the four of them wanted to go down together at the same time. The worker let a few other people go first; then he told the four to position themselves on the slide. After they were ready, the worker told them "go", and they were off. This slide was a little more boring at the beginning, but when they hit that "drop", they all screamed down to the bottom. When they got there, they looked at their time. David had come in last at 12.32 seconds; Sam finished at 12.11 seconds, and Carly and Danny had the exact same time of 12.06 seconds. They all laughed.

"Hey guys," called a familiar voice from a bench about twenty feet from the bottom of the slide.

"Hey, Freddie," Carly and Sam called back together. The girls walked over to him. "Have you been here long?" Carly asked him.

"Oh, about an hour," Freddie answered, "I went to the dance studio first. The music was kickin'." He sat back on the bench and stretched a little, "I'm a little worn out, so I came here to rest."

Sam laughed at him, "You were dancing?"

Freddie gave her a look, "Yes, I was dancing. Anyway, I'll go on the slide here in a few minutes."

Danny and David had caught up with their girls, "You girls ready to go down the tunnel slide again?" Danny asked.

"You bet!" Carly exclaimed, and Sam began pulling David's hand to the stairs, "See ya later, Freddo!" Sam hollered to Freddie.

Freddie sat back and watched the four go up the stairs to the tunnel slide. He watched them get on the slide; then disappear for what seemed like forever only then to reappear not more than thirty feet from where he was sitting.

They went in reverse order from the first time they came down with Carly coming down first, and Sam bringing up the rear. When Sam reached the bottom, and got off the slide, she said, "Man, this slide is so cool, let's go do it again."

Carly looked at her friend, "If you and David want to go, go ahead," she smiled as she looked towards Danny, "but me and Danny need to break the tie that we had on the other slide."

Danny smiled at her girlfriend, "Bring it on sister," he challenged heartily.

Sam and David started back up the stairs quickly, while Carly and Danny took their time. When Sam and David reached the line for the tunnel slide, they discovered the line was getting really long. But they didn't mind, it gave them a chance to catch their breaths. Sam needed the break; she was getting a little light headed from all the racing.

As they were standing in line, a group of good-looking girls got in line behind them. They were laughing and giggling at each other. David couldn't help but look their way when Sam wasn't watching, and he started making eyes at the girls and smiling which made the girls laugh even more. Sam hadn't noticed what was going on, because she was so focused on getting on the slide.

It was her turn to go, and she turned to David, and asked if he wanted to go first. She saw he was looking at the girls, and she got a little upset at him. David turned to her, and told her that she could go first. So Sam positioned herself on the slide and took off.

Freddie was still sitting on the bench watching his friends. He assumed the line for the tunnel slide was getting long because he hadn't seen either Sam or David at the top of the slide. He saw Carly and Danny race down on the other slide. Carly did beat Danny this time, but only by a tenth of a second. They both laughed as they got up and began to go up the stairs again.

Freddie turned his attention back to the tunnel slide. He finally saw Sam get on the slide and disappear through the tunnel. He was staring at the top of the slide, and saw David and a bunch of girls talking with one another. Freddie's anger began to boil, when he saw Sam's boyfriend flirting with other girls again. He shook his head, and stood up from the bench to get a better look at what was going on. Then, he saw in disgust; as David let one of the girls he was flirting with go down the slide first so that he could talk with the others.

The girl disappeared down the tunnel; then Freddie became alarmed when he saw that Sam was not through the slide yet. _It shouldn't be taking this long_, he thought as he began to walk over to the bottom of the slide.

All of a sudden, he heard a thud, and a girl scream from inside the slide. He raced to the bottom of the slide and looked through the opening. After about ten seconds, Sam finally appeared at the bottom followed by the girl that David let go in front of him. Freddie went over to Sam.

The girl that was on top of Sam said angrily, "I don't know what she was doing stopped in the middle of the slide, but she scared me half to death." The girl got off the slide and walked back to the stairs to wait for her friends.

Freddie ignored the girl and looked at Sam. She was hurt. He noticed a big bump on the back of her head, and it was swelling, "Sam," He said frantically, "are you okay?"

Sam barely had her eyes open, her head was throbbing, "What happened?" She said very weakly.

"I think you must have smacked your head somewhere on the slide," he said as he pulled her away from the slide, "then some girl ran right into you. You must have come to a stop in the slide until she pushed you through." Freddie looked up to see another girl come through the slide. _Where is her boyfriend?_ He thought angrily.

"Sam, there's a nurse's station by the dance studio," he told her, "I'm going to take you there." He helped her up, but she was too weak, and she collapsed in his arms. Freddie scooped her up in his arms, and carried her.

Sam was a little too out of it to care that Freddie was carrying her, "Where's David?" She asked weakly.

Freddie didn't want to tell her what he saw, but as he was carrying her away from the slide, he realized he didn't have to. Sam was gazing at the top of the slide at her boyfriend flirting with the girls that were behind them earlier. "Big flirt jerk," Freddie heard Sam mumble as Freddie got Sam to the nurse's station.

Once the nurse was treating Sam, Freddie called Carly on his cell phone and told her what happened. A few minutes later, she and Danny arrived. "Where's David?" Carly asked.

Sam gave Carly a look of scorn, and Freddie looked away. "I'll go find him." Danny said uncomfortably; then went back out.

A couple of minutes later, the two guys returned. "Sam," David said soberly, "Are you okay, sweetie?"

Sam looked at him with fire in her eyes, "Oh, so you actually took time away from your girlfriends to come see how I was doing?" She said angrily. She was sitting up now and was holding as ice pack to the back of her head. She looked to Carly, "I think I'm ready to go home."

David held his head in shame, but he quietly followed Sam, Carly, and Danny out of the nurse's station and eventually out of the theme park.

Freddie waited for them to leave the nurse's station before he departed. He felt bad for Sam. He knew she wanted to be a special girl in some guy's life. He wanted to be that special guy for her.

He headed out of the theme park, and walked home alone.

**Author's Note: I hope that I was able to help you visualize what kind of place this Marina Park is. I tried to do my best in describing how the slides work and what they look like. Sounds like a neat place, huh? Alas, back to the story, is Sam and David over? Wait and see! But at least Freddie got some redemption for being a good friend. We're moving back in the right direction for Seddie now. Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to iCarly or the song at the end; but I'm working on it!

Chapter 15

There was a holiday spirit running through the school the next day. Thanksgiving was this coming Thursday, and it produced a short three day school week, followed by a four day vacation.

Freddie was sitting at his desk in history class, going through his homework and waiting for the bell to ring, when he saw the girls come into class and took their seats.

Carly had invited Sam to stay at her place after they had gotten home from the theme park. The two girls talked about what had happened, and discussed whether it was a good idea for Sam to dump David after what happened on the slide. Carly didn't know what to suggest, and told Sam that only she would know what was right for her. They spent the rest of the evening watching a Girly Cow marathon on TV, and played cards.

_Sam is in better spirits today,_ Freddie noticed_, she wasn't being mean to me or anything yet today. Of course, it is only first period…_

Carly and Sam were doing some small talk when the bell rang and class began.

Freddie was trying to learn their lesson from Mrs. Wood when he became distracted by Carly and Sam passing notes to each other. Finally, Carly sent a note his way. He looked at it. **Spencer and I would like to invite you and your mom to Thanksgiving dinner at our place. We're having my granddad from Yakima drive in, and we'll have some other relatives as well. But we really would like you to come over Thursday.**

Freddie looked over to Carly and smiled. He wrote back. **Sure, but I better ask my mom first, you know how she can get. Plus, you know she's disappointed that you still have a boyfriend, and aren't dating me. Blah!** He handed the note back to Carly, who smiled while she read it. She nodded to him.

The bell rang, and Freddie got up from his seat and began to head out of the classroom. He looked back to see that Sam and Carly were still talking and hadn't gotten out of their seats. He shook his head and walked out of the classroom.

He went to his locker, and put away his history book, and grabbed his algebra book and went to class.

He was looking over his homework at his desk, when he heard the bell ring. He looked over and saw that Sam hadn't made it to class yet. He was trying to figure out what could have happened when he saw her finally enter the room.

"You're late Ms. Puckett," Mr. Perry said as he saw her walk into class, "that is your first tardy since…"

"September?" Sam asked smugly as she sat down at her desk and got her homework out.

Mr. Perry walked to his desk and looked over his attendance record. He raised his eyebrows up in surprise, "Yes," he answered shocked, "all right, just don't let it happen again or I'll have to give you detention."

"Yes, sir," she answered rather brightly. She started to look through her homework.

"What happened to you?" Freddie whispered to Sam, "how's come you're late?"

"Carly and I lost track of time talking," she answered whispering, "anyway, can we compare answers?"

Freddie's face brightened, "Sure, let's take a look." They began to go through each other's homework assignment until the teacher asked them to hand it in.

After the papers were sent to the front, Sam whispered over to Freddie, "Hey, you're coming by tonight to study, right?"

Freddie looked at her strangely, "What?" He said a little too loudly. He had caught the attention of the teacher. "Sorry, sir," Freddie said embarrassingly. Mr. Perry went back to teaching the lesson.

Sam rolled her eyes, and quickly grabbed a piece of paper out of her notebook. She wrote, **I asked you if you were coming by tonight to study.** She passed the note over to Freddie.

Freddie made sure Mr. Perry wasn't looking his way; then he grabbed the note and read it. He scratched his chin and looked puzzled. Then he sent Sam a reply, **I thought you didn't want me studying with you anymore. You threw me out a couple of weeks ago, remember?**

Sam grabbed the note and gazed at it. She frowned for a minute; then replied back**, I threw you out, because I thought you were making up stories about David. But you were telling me the truth. I'm not mad at you now, and I trust you. So, can you come by, or not?**

After Freddie read her note, he looked over and nodded. Then he sent her another note which read, **I just have to let my mom know I'm coming by, but it shouldn't be a problem. Are you and David still dating, by the way?**

Sam received his note; then she put it away in her notebook without replying to his inquiry.

Freddie saw her put the note away, and tried to get her to tell him something about whether or not she was dating David.

She whispered to him, "I'll tell you later," she turned back to face the front and the teacher.

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam was in a hurry to get home after school to get the house straightened up from last night's episode between her mom and new boyfriend. Sam hadn't been home since early Sunday morning, and she had a feeling the house was going to be a wreck, so she told Freddie to just meet her at her place while she went on ahead to clean.

Freddie told his buddies Jeremy and Gibby that he was studying with Sam, so he wasn't going to be at the gym. Freddie went over to Sam's house. He had gotten there just as Sam had completed picking the place up. "Sam, can I come in?" He called to her from the front door.

"Yeah, come on in," Sam replied slightly out of breath from all the clean-up work. She had five garbage bags that were tied up in the kitchen that she was getting ready to take out.

"Here, let me help you," Freddie insisted as he grabbed three of the bags, and followed Sam out to the garbage dumpster as she carried the other two.

"Thanks," she said after they disposed of the trash, "are you ready to study?"

"After you," he replied grinning a little, and they walked back inside, and made their way to the dining room.

They got their homework out, and began working together. They were both glad to be studying together again. Freddie had missed her company, and the competition between the two. Sam had missed that as well; also Sam's grades had slipped a little over the last couple of weeks since she didn't have a drive to do well in school again without Freddie.

After they completed their school work they sat back in their chairs and relaxed a bit. Then Sam went into the kitchen to grab some snacks and some sodas.

While she was in the kitchen, Freddie called out to her, "Hey, are you going to answer me about David?"

Sam came back in with the snacks and sat down. She looked at Freddie, "I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do about David. I didn't break up with him if that's what you're asking."

"Oh," he replied a little uncomfortably, "I'm a little surprised is all, though,"

Sam gave him a strange look, "Why?" She asked.

"I guess I just don't understand why you would want to be with someone that doesn't give you his full attention," he replied. _If you were my girlfriend, I'd never want to take my eyes off of you,_ he thought.

"Yeah…" she said plainly, "I'm not sure what to do right now. It's not like there's another guy out there that I want to be with…or who would want to be with me." _I've got to find out if Freddie really likes me and wants to be with me. I sense that he does, but I'm not sure. I can't give him more of a wide opening to say something about it to me then right now,_ she thought frantically to herself.

_Sam, why do you do this to yourself?_ Freddie thought sadly, _you are so beautiful, and I care so much about you. But if you insist on being with David, I can't and won't make any kind of move that would jeopardize our friendship._ "But Sam," he retorted, "can you possibly continue to date someone who doesn't fully respect you to be his number one girl. I mean, why does he have to flirt with other girls?"

"Would you treat a girl like that?" Sam asked, hoping to get some kind of real clue about Freddie's feeling for her. _Gosh dork,_ she thought, _can't you take a hint?_

Freddie angered a bit when asked the question, "Heck, no! If I had that special girl in my life, I'd treat her like a princess. I'd be proud to be seen with her, I'd…"

"Okay Fredward, I get it," she interrupted giggling. _Wow, she thought, I like stirring the boy up. If he felt that way about me, I really would feel like a princess!_

Freddie started to get up, "I told my mom that I wouldn't be gone long tonight, but we can get back on the regular schedule after tonight if you want to."

"Yeah, okay." She answered as she walked him to the front door. "So, I'm meeting you at your place tomorrow night then."

"Yep," he answered, "then we can go to Carly's and get ready for iCarly afterwards." He walked out the front door and got ready to leave. Sam walked out the front door and joined him there for a second.

They both looked around the block taking in this Seattle evening. It was very overcast, and looked as though it might begin to rain at any time. Sam coming outside to stand with him surprised Freddie a little, and their silence was a little awkward. Sam finally broke the silence.

"Freddie," she said slowly, "I never thanked you yesterday for coming to my aid."

"Oh," he replied smiling, "it was nothing really, I saw you were hurt, and wanted to get you to the nurse's station as quickly as I could, so you could get better." Freddie turned his attention to her in a more serious tone, "I never did ask you, how is your head today?"

"It just has a small bump on it," she said grinning, "Nothing my noggin can't handle."

Freddie reached behind Sam's head and felt the bump. He softly caressed it with his fingers for a few seconds.

Sam closed her eyes and sighed softly, _I love his touch,_ she thought, _he is so gentle._ She didn't notice it, but with Freddie softly rubbing her head, it relaxed her so much, that she began swaying back and forth. She kept swaying until she lost her balance and fell forward onto Freddie. "Sorry Freddie." She said nervously.

Freddie steadied her. "That's' okay, Sam," he said, a little nervous himself, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said a little more confidently, "I probably just need to lie down is all, it's getting cold out here."

Indeed it was cold on this late November evening. It was only 5:00, but the night sky was out with the daylight hours growing shorter now.

"Here, let me help you back inside real quick," Freddie insisted as he wrapped his arm around Sam and led her back into the house. He helped her to the couch in the living room where she laid down. "Can I get you anything before I leave?"

She shook her head, "Thanks Freddie, but I'll be okay." _He really REALLY cares about me_, she thought.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you for a while?" Freddie asked concerned, "I'm sure my mom would get over it if I was a little late getting home."

_Aw Freddie, you're killing me,_ she thought, _my heart is splitting in two. I have David, who is my boyfriend, but it seems that he doesn't care all that much for me to be with just me, and I have Freddie, who is my best "guy" friend, and I don't know what he wants, but I know that he cares the world for me. Men are so confusing!!!_ "No, I'll be okay. I'll see you tomorrow." She said softly and gently as she relaxed on the couch.

"All right, I'll see you then, good night Sam." Freddie said as he exited the apartment. It had begun to rain, so he began to run home.

"Good night Freddie," she sighed as she watched him leave the apartment. She got up from the couch and walked to the front window so she could watch him run down the street in this rain. When she couldn't see him anymore, she walked over to the radio to turn it on. The station that was on was the country station. _Mom must have been listening to the radio last night,_ she thought. Sam wasn't a big fan of country, but she liked a few groups including the one that was playing at that moment. She wasn't sure why it was happening, but small tears were dropping from her eyes. In truth, Sam wished that she could admit her feelings to Freddie. She hadn't wanted him to go.

_**I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house that don't bother me**_

_**I can take a few tears now and then and just let 'em out**_

_**I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while even though goin' on with you gone still upsets me**_

_**There are days every now and again I pretend I'm okay but that's not what gets me**_

_**What hurts the most is being so close and having so much to say and watchin' you walk away**_

_**And never knowing what could have been and not seein' that lovin' you is what I was tryin' to do**_

"**What Hurts the Most"** _– Rascal Flatts_

**Author's Note: I really like this chapter. Boy, these two are stubborn aren't they? Sam just doesn't want to give up on David, and Freddie just can't admit his feelings. The wheels are in motion though, and happiness for them is just around the corner. I love the Flatts, and I love the song. Please keep reviewing!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It was a beautiful day outdoors for Thanksgiving. The sun was shining bright, and the air wasn't that cold for a typical Seattle Thanksgiving.

The last 2 days of school went quickly, and the students lurched out the door of the school when the bell rang on that Wednesday afternoon. A four day weekend was the longest the kids have had since school started in late August.

The Shay apartment was heavily decorated with Thanksgiving décor, and the kitchen was very busy. Carly and Spencer's granddad arrived early in the morning to help his grandchildren get the food prepared. Carly's aunt and uncle and cousin arrived around the noon hour to help with the festivities. Even more relatives arrived as the afternoon began, and by the time the Bensons arrived from next door, the apartment was packed. Sam came in with Freddie and his mom. Sam arrived at the building an hour before to work on homework with Freddie, before they came next door to the feast.

Tons of food was cooking. Everything from turkeys and hams (lots of ham for Sam), to potatoes and gravies, and yams, and green bean casseroles, and this doesn't even cover the pies and cookies for dessert.

The day, which had been so beautiful for the morning and afternoon, became overcast as the evening approached. A cold front was passing through bringing cold and wet weather. As the group prepared to feast, it began raining outdoors.

It was time to eat. The large group gathered around the food. Granddad prayed for the food, and everybody began to dig in. Sam sat on the couch eating her food with Carly and Spencer, while everybody else sat at tables that Spencer borrowed from his friend Socko.

After dinner, the adults were watching football on television. The kids volunteered to help clean up. Sam was helping herself by cleaning out the leftovers. It only took about half an hour to get the kitchen cleaned up.

They were about to spend some time in the studio, when Sam's cell phone rang. She picked it up surprised, "Hello?"

"**Samantha, it's mom, I just got home and I would like you to come home now and join me,"** said the voice on the other end on the line. "Mom," Sam whined, "I'm over here at Carly's right now, and it's raining out."

"**I want you home right away, so we can spend some time together during Thanksgiving," **her mom said. "Why?" Sam replied through her phone, "the day is pretty much over now, and now you want to spend time with me?"

"**Samantha Puckett, are you sassing me young lady?"** Her mom asked. Sam rolled her eyes and groaned, "No, mother," she replied, "are you coming to get me?"

"**You know the car is in the shop, so I can't get you,"** said Mrs. Puckett. Sam sighed, "Then how did you make it home from your boyfriend's?"

"**I took a taxi," **her mom replied, **"now enough with these questions. I want you here very soon. Do you hear me?"** Sam's facial expression grew dark, "Fine!" She stated as she clicked her phone closed.

"Let me guess," Carly said mildly sarcastic, "you have to go?"

"My mom is always doing stuff like this," Sam huffed angrily, "nothing is ever about me, it's all about her." Sam and Carly went back down the steps with Freddie right behind them.

"How are you getting home?" Freddie asked concerned.

Sam looked around the living room at everybody then she looked outside. "I guess I'm walking home," she said then she looked at Carly, "I'm not going to ask Spencer or one of your relatives for a ride because you've all gathered together for the holiday."

Carly stammered, "Sam, I'm sure it's not a problem for somebody to run you home…"

"No, Carly," Sam retorted, "I don't have that far to go, besides, with the traffic and everything, it'll take less time to walk then drive."

"Hang on a second, Sam," Freddie told her as he walked over to his mom who was watching football.

Sam continued to speak to Carly, "I'll be fine, it's just a half mile or so. It's not like I'm going to melt or anything, like my mom cares if I do."

"But Sam…" Carly started.

Freddie returned to them and interrupted, "I'll walk you home."

Sam turned to Freddie, "No, Freddie, you don't have to do that," she indicated to him.

"Sam," Freddie insisted, "It's not a problem. You don't have an umbrella with you, and you have to come by my place to get your book bag anyway." He walked over to the front door to grab her light jacket.

Sam shrugged, then told Carly and Spencer thank you for inviting her; then walked out the door and across the hall with Freddie.

They went inside Freddie's apartment. Sam waited as Freddie went to get the umbrella. A couple of minutes later, he returned with the umbrella and an extra jacket. "Here, put this on," he told her, "I checked the temperature outside, and it's really getting cold. All you brought is a light jacket, you'll freeze."

Sam blushed a bit as she put his jacket on. _He is so thoughtful to me,_ she thought. Then she grabbed her book bag, and they walked out.

The rain was still coming down pretty steady, and it was cold like Freddie said it was. Sam was now grateful for the extra layer. They began to walk towards Sam's place.

They walked in silence for a few minutes; then Sam turned to Freddie, "Hey, I need to tell you something."

Freddie looked at her, "Okay," he responded.

She was silent for a moment; then said softly, "David called me last night, and I think he really wants to patch things up in our relationship."

Freddie nodded, but he was disappointed, "That's great Sam," he paused, "is that what you want?"

Sam wrinkled her mouth a little before she answered, "I guess so. He wants us to go out to the Jaffe' Restaurant, you know that restaurant Carly and Danny went out to several weeks ago." She paused as she looked to Freddie to see if he knew what she was talking about. He nodded, so she continued, "Anyway, he wants us to dress formal, and I'm also meeting his parents for the first time. So, this means I'm going to have to wear a dress."

Freddie smirked, "Do you even own a dress?"

Sam smirked back, "Actually, I was hoping to borrow one from you."

Freddie darkened his look and said, "Ha, Ha." He took the umbrella that he was using to cover them, and turned it away from Sam so that she would get wet.

"Freddie!" She squealed as she tried to take control of the umbrella and covered herself. She gave Freddie a punch in the arm. He grunted from getting hit in the arm, but he still laughed though.

"Seriously though," she continued, "I'm kind of nervous about this whole thing, and I really want some advice on whether I should go or not. Carly said that maybe I should give him one more chance, but I want to know what you think." They were only a couple of blocks from her apartment, but she slowed her pace, so they could take their time going back. Her cell phone rang again, and when Sam saw it was her mom calling, she powered down her phone.

Freddie had butterflies swimming in his stomach. _I don't know what to tell her,_ he thought_, I don't want to be selfish and tell her not to do this if this guy really makes her happy. Who am I to decide?_ "Sam," he answered slowly but clearly, "only you know what's in your heart. I'm your friend, and I will support you 100% on what you decide to do."

_What's in my heart?_ Sam thought angrily, _YOU, you big dork are in my heart!_ "Okay," she said. They began to walk again. "So what are you doing tomorrow?" She asked.

"I'm meeting Jeremy and Gibby at the gym in the morning." He replied.

Sam began to snicker, "You and your gym," she laughed.

Freddie rolled his eyes at her, but stated proudly, "Me and the guys are getting a lot out of it. We don't go there just to lift weights and stuff, the gym has a basketball court, a volleyball court, and even a few rooms to play racket ball. The three of us just want the chance to exercise and get in shape, and it makes us feel better about ourselves. And it gives me a chance to hang out with the guys where it doesn't cost me any money."

Sam continued to smile at him, "You guys are such dorks," she said as they reached the final block to her home.

"You know," Freddie said, "it wouldn't hurt you to build up your muscles. You're not gonna be able to lock Gibby in a locker for much longer." He smiled at her.

Sam grinned, "We'll see about that," she retorted, but she thought about the head injury she took at Marina Park 5 days ago and thought maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to exercise. "You know, I remember you tried to give me your extra gym membership a month ago, and I didn't want it…"

Freddie reached for his wallet and grabbed the membership, "Did you want it now?" He asked brightly.

Sam smiled faintly, and reached over to grab the membership, "Thanks," she began, "but if you think I'm going to exercise anywhere near you clowns, you're mistaken." They laughed.

They reached Sam's front door. Freddie held the umbrella over the door to let her in. She reached over and gave him a hug, "Happy Thanksgiving, Freddork," she whispered in his ear, "and thanks again for walking me home."

"Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, whatever you are," he replied as he let her go.

Sam shook her head and grinned; then turned and went inside.

Freddie began to walk home. The rain was letting up, so he closed the umbrella. As he was walking, he saw several people beginning to leave their Thanksgiving parties and head home. He again began to regret not telling Sam how he felt about her. He couldn't understand why she would even agree to even see him again. _Guys like him don't change,_ he thought, _and when he makes the mistake again, he'll be through, and Sam hopefully will be mine._

**Author's Note: The food sounds good don't it? I can't wait for next Thursday! I could have saved this chapter for then, but I didn't want to leave everyone hanging with a layover. I said I'd get a new chapter in everyday, and I'm going to try to keep my word. Sam's upcoming date with David sets up Seddie. Hope to hear some reviews! –kwags74**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: A lot of summary at the beginning of the chapter before dialogue begins. Sorry about that.**

Chapter 17

Sam woke up the next morning to an empty house. That was typical for her, holiday or no holiday. She showered and got dressed; then she ate breakfast. All the while, she was debating on how to spend her Friday with no school.

She was annoyed with her mom, because her mother had made Sam come all the way home in the rain so that they could spend half an hour together before she passed out on the couch. Her mom's boyfriend picked her up early in the morning so they could do some "Day after Thanksgiving" shopping.

Sam had no desire to deal with those crowds that go to the stores on that day, but she did need to go get a dress for her dinner with David tomorrow.

After she ate and cleaned up, she came across the gym membership that Freddie gave her last night sitting on the dining room table next to her book bag. She had nothing to do at the moment, and she knew the gym was only a short distance away; she decided to go check it out.

It was still overcast from the rain storm last evening, and it was also very cool outside. Sam took some workout clothes in a backpack and made her way to the gym.

When she got to Bold's Gym, she went to the front desk so she could fill out some paperwork; then she went to the ladies' locker room. She changed her clothes, and walked into the weight room.

She tried to avoid seeing Freddie and his geek squad, but it didn't take long to find them. They were over by the bench press. Sam got a glimpse at the guys as they each got up from their equipment; as they were finishing their exercises for the day. She saw Gibby first, and she was amazed on how tone his tummy area was. _I guess I won't be painting his tummy anymore_, she thought as he walked to the guys' locker room. Then, Jeremy "Germy" got up and walked to the locker room. _Dang,_ she thought, _Freddie was right about Germy, he really does look good._

Finally, Freddie stood up from his bench, and walked to the locker room. Sam was so blown away over how nice Freddie toned arms and upper body looked, that she had to grasp on to a barbell, which was resting at its station, to keep from falling over onto the floor. "Wow…" she whispered to herself. She didn't take her eyes off him until he disappeared from view when he followed his friends into the locker room.

"I've got work to do," she muttered to herself as she went to find a trainer, so she could start working out.

She spent the remainder of the morning exercising and working her muscles. As noon approached, she went back to the locker room and changed her clothes and left the gym.

She grabbed her phone as she was walking outside and called Carly. Sam and Carly discussed going to the mall in a couple of hours to get a dress for Sam. The two met at the mall in the middle of the afternoon, and battled the holiday shoppers to get the dress Sam wanted.

It was a beautiful blue strapless silk dress with small ruffles near the top. Sam asked Carly if she would keep it for her at her place so that it wouldn't get ruined at her mom's. She also didn't want to take the chance that her mother might steal it from her. Sam would come by Carly's on Saturday evening to change into the dress. She was having David meet her there in the evening to pick her up.

Sam spent a quiet evening at her house watching Thanksgiving shows on TV. At times, her mind would wander over deciding who she would like to be with, either David or Freddie. She didn't want to go tomorrow if she felt David wasn't the right one for her. However, she also didn't want to be on her date with David, and have Freddie on her mind.

It was late, and Sam shut the TV off, and went into her bedroom to go to sleep. Since it was Friday, Sam knew her mother would either be very late coming home, or wouldn't be coming home at all. So, she lay there in silence, and made a decision about what she was going to do the next day.

XxXxXxXxXx

Freddie had a very interesting day on Friday. After he and his friends left the gym, they grabbed a bite to eat; then Freddie returned to the gym without his friends. Gibby went over to his buddy Rueben's house, and Jeremy had a date for the evening, so they took off after they ate.

Freddie missed Sam by about 15 minutes as she was leaving and he was returning. He spent a couple hours shooting some hoops before his mother called, and demanded that he come home so they could go shopping for him on the biggest sales day of the year.

Freddie had groaned, going shopping with his mother was the last thing he wanted to do on this Friday, but he returned home so he and his mother could go. He and his mother were out until the middle of the evening getting all kinds of clothes for him and her. It was a good thing Freddie had worked out earlier in the day, because he needed his muscles to carry all the department store bags that they consumed from all the shopping they did.

After they returned home, Freddie hit the sack. He wanted to get up early so he could hit the gym again on Saturday morning. He spent the morning hours both in the weight room and on the racket ball court. When he got home, he spent the afternoon finishing an essay for English class; then spent some time on the internet. He planned to go over to Carly's early that evening to do some maintenance work on his equipment. They had decided not to do an iCarly episode the previous night because of the holiday, but he knew he wanted to make sure everything was in order the following week, because they were planning to do an extended episode the following Friday to make up for yesterday.

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam slept in pretty late Saturday morning. It was after 11am when she got cleaned up and ate. She called David, and told him that everything was on for the night, and that he should meet her at Carly's apartment around 5pm that evening.

She had indeed decided to want to be with the guy that wasn't afraid to tell her that he wanted to be with her, and who wanted to make things work. Sam actually tried to do everything she could not to get Freddie in her head for the entire day.

She stayed at her mom's during the early afternoon, and cleaned the house up. Her mom never did show up last night as far as Sam knew; the house looked the same as it did when Sam came home last night. Around three o'clock that afternoon, she took off for Carly's place. When she arrived, Sam was hoping she wouldn't bump into Freddie.

She rang the bell to the Shay's apartment. The door opened, "Hey Sam," Carly smiled as she stepped back to let her best friend through the door.

"Hey," replied Sam looking a little nervous about the date that was quickly approaching. "Is my dress ready?"

"Yes," Carly replied still smiling, "I have it hanging on my closet door in my bedroom." She noticed that her friend looked a little tense, "you look a little nervous, are you gonna be okay?"

"Me?" Sam answered trying to straighten out her expression, "cool as a cucumber, you know?"

"Chillax," Carly said to her friend as she grabbed Sam's shoulders, "you're gonna have fun tonight."

"I guess," Sam said uncertain, "I'm going to head into your room and start to get ready."

Carly nodded, "Oh, okay," she said as she began to head into the kitchen to see what her brother was up to, "let me know if you need for anything."

Sam went into her friend's room and began to get ready. _Why am I so nervous_, she thought, _this is not like this is the first time we've been out before; we've been dating for several weeks._ She put on her dress first; then decided to put on make-up and do her hair. _Who am I kidding_, her thoughts continued, _I'm a nervous wreck. I better get some advice about how to handle myself for this dinner before I leave_. Sam continued to get ready.

Carly sat in a kitchen chair and watched Spencer start a new creation. He had made an artificial Christmas tree out of nothing but round ornaments. He was doing all kinds of hooking and hot gluing to get this sculpture completed. She had sat for a couple of minutes watching her brother when the doorbell rang.

Carly looked at the clock, which only read 4:20. "Boy, David's early," she muttered to herself as she went to the door. When she opened the door, she found Freddie in the doorway, and not David.

"Hey, Freddie," Carly warmly greeted him, "did you come by to work on the equipment upstairs?"

"Yeah," Freddie replied; then looked to Carly nervously, "did I come at a bad time?"

"Oh no," she replied as she began to walk back towards the kitchen, "don't be ridiculous, I'm not doing anything until…"

There was a small crash in the kitchen, and the sound of broken glass hitting the kitchen floor. Spencer hollered in pain.

To Carly and Freddie's horror, Spencer approached them with his right hand badly cut. "Oh my gosh, Spencer," Carly shrieked, "Are you all right?"

"We-ell," Spencer tried to answer hopingly, "it appears that my hand is a little cut up," he answered trying to make a joke at a time like this.

"I need to get you the emergency room," Carly panicked as she ran to go get her and Spencer's jackets, "that hand is bleeding very badly."

Freddie had run into the kitchen, and pulled a bunch of paper towels to wrap around Spencer's hand. "Here," he said quickly, "keep pressure on the hand."

Spencer did as he was told. He was in pain, but he tried not to show it. He was helped into his jacket by his sister. "Thanks, Freddo." He told Freddie.

"Freddie," Carly began, as she was leading Spencer to the front door, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Sam is in my room getting changed for her date. I'm going to try to be back before she takes off."

"Yeah, okay Carly," Freddie replied, "Go!" He saw the Shay siblings to the door, and closed it behind them.

Freddie looked at the blood that was on the floor in various spots, and decided to help clean it up. He went into the kitchen and got under the kitchen sink to grab some rubber gloves, a bucket, and a sponge. He filled the bucket with soap and water, and got on his hands and knees and began to clean up the blood off the floors.

After Freddie was done cleaning the floors, he emptied the bucket and put it away. He went into the linen closet and grabbed a broom; he began to sweep the floor in the area that there was broken ornaments.

Freddie had just gotten the broken fragments emptied into the garbage and was getting ready to put the broom away, when he heard Sam's voice coming from upstairs.

"Hey, Carly?" Sam hollered as she made her way down the stairs to the living room area. She paused when she got to the bottom because she hadn't heard anybody. "Yo, Carly, Spencer?"

"Carly had to run Spencer to the…" Freddie began as he walked out of the kitchen into the living room. When he saw Sam, he stopped in his tracks and stared at her, his eyes went wide, "Wow," he said softly.

Sam was all decked out in her dress. Her hair was wavy and flowing this evening, and her make-up made her look stunning.

Freddie needed air. The sight of her was taking his breath away, and he stumbled a bit as he began to walk towards her, "Y-you lo-ook great," he stuttered nervously.

Freddie wasn't the only one who was nervous. Sam was hoping not to run into Freddie today, because she wanted to get him out of her mind. Now, here he was gawking at her, and it made her very nervous. But she answered him, "Thanks," she quietly replied. She spoke up, "where did you say Carly was?"

Freddie snapped out of his trance he was in, "Carly had to run Spencer to the ER," he answered, "he cut his hand badly on some Christmas ornaments. She said they'd be back as soon as possible."

"Okay," Sam implied a little distastefully, "and why are you here?"

"I came over tonight to work on the equipment upstairs," Freddie replied ignoring how rude she asked him this question, "but the accident happened, and I've been helping clean up the place."

"Gee Freddork," Sam said smirking, "what a good friend you are."

Freddie continued to ignore Sam's sarcasm. He noticed she looked a little nervous, "You ready for your big date?"

"Yep," Sam answered and turned away from him.

"Sam," he asked concerned, "Are you okay?"

The last person she wanted to get dating advice from was Freddie. The only girl that he was involved with was Valerie. But Sam wanted advice about a formal dinner. She knew that Freddie and Valerie had a formal dinner on their first date at the Shay apartment last year. Sam remembered it well; she set up one of Freddie's little webcams up so that she and Carly could watch. She couldn't believe she was about to do this, but with no normal person around, it was time for the geek squad to answer her question.

Sam turned to face Freddie, "I was hoping to get some last minute advice about going on a formal dinner date," she sighed, hoping that Freddie didn't want to help her out.

Freddie looked at her thoughtfully for a second; then said, "I'm not sure if this will help, but I can tell you what Spencer told me when I went on my first date with Valerie."

Sam walked over to the couch and sat down. "This ought to be interesting," she said as she waited for Freddie to come sit next to her on the couch, "all right, shoot."

"Spencer told me that if you look into a girl's eyes, and say nothing, that it made the girl think you were all mysterious and stuff, and…" Freddie began before Sam interrupted.

Sam busted out laughing, "Are you kidding me?" She began roll back on the couch laughing. "Thanks Freddie, I needed a good laugh."

Freddie ignored her laughing and began to stare in her eyes, just as Spencer had done to him the previous year when he told Freddie the same advice. He locked his eyes on her and held her gaze.

Sam's laughing had begun to subside. "That's the most outrageous…thing…I've… ever…" Her eyes had caught his, and when they locked their gaze on one another, she began to forget what she was going to say. "That's the… most…" She tried to begin again, but Freddie continued to look into her eyes, and she couldn't break free from his gaze.

Freddie was literally looking into Sam's window into her soul. _She's the one_, he thought to himself, _she's perfect; there will never be another girl that I will want to be with other than her._

Sam was indeed looking into Freddie's sparkling brown eyes. She had completely stopped thinking about David at this point. She felt that she was literally in a trance, but she liked what she was gazing at. She was hoping this wasn't a dream, and that there would be sparks flying if they would touch lips.

Sure enough, their bodies were inching towards each other. Their eyes were still on one another's, but they were slowly closing. Their heads began to tilt in opposite directions as their lips began to descend upon each other…

"Ow!" Spencer yelled from outside the door, as he was trying to open it.

"Let me get the door," Carly's voice came through the door as she reached for the knob.

At the instant they heard voices; Sam and Freddie opened their eyes, and snapped their bodies back to a sitting position. They both stood up from the couch just as Carly and Spencer walked in.

Freddie was wide-eyed from what almost happened on the couch. He drifted into the kitchen unnoticed, but his thoughts were running wild. _Sam and I __almost kissed_, he thought wildly; _at least I'm almost sure it was going to happen. I wonder what this means, and what she's going to do._

Sam went over to Spencer, and checked out his hand, "Spencer, are you gonna be okay?" She asked concerned.

Spencer smiled, "Yeah, the doctor said I shouldn't do much with it for a few days, but it should be okay by the middle of the upcoming week." He made his way past the girls towards his room.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to finish helping you get ready," Carly said to Sam, but she stepped back to take in how well her friend looked, "you look great though. Is there anything I can help you with now?" She asked.

Sam slowly shook her head, "I don't believe so," she replied, "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Her face was still a little pale from what almost happened on the couch a few moments ago.

Carly noticed this, "Sam, you look really nervous," she said a bit concerned, "you're gonna be okay, right? Is something bothering you?"

Sam stole a glance into the kitchen where Freddie was. He had walked over to the ornament sculpture and was standing there appearing to be lost in thought. At times, he stole glances to the living room. Sam turned back around to face her friend, "I just want this night to be over." She told Carly.

"Are you changing your mind about seeing David?" Carly asked her, trying to pry something out of her friend.

The doorbell rang, and Carly went to open the door. David walked in wearing a very nice suit and tie. He saw Sam and smiled at her, "You look beautiful tonight."

Sam blushed slightly, and replied, "Thanks, you look good too." Her mind was a thousand miles away at the moment.

David asked, "Are you ready? My parents are waiting downstairs in the car."

Sam nodded and took David's arm. The two of them bid Carly farewell, and walked out the door.

Carly wasn't getting good vibes about this date. She began to walk into the kitchen. "Freddie, did something happen earlier…" She started, but found that Freddie was no longer in the kitchen.

She was about to holler for him, when she heard her own name called by her brother. She walked out of the kitchen and back towards Spencer's room.

As soon as David had walked in the door, Freddie had gotten into the elevator and taken it up to the iCarly studio. He didn't want to bear to see Sam leave with that guy. When he reached the studio, Freddie began to walk over to his equipment to do some cleaning and inspecting. It didn't help that he was doing this alone, because all he could think about was Sam. He spent a few hours going through every piece of equipment, to make sure it was functioning properly. All the while his mind was on one thing.

He wondered how Sam's date was going.

**Author's Note: This is a bit of a long chapter, but hopefully an enjoyable one. No, this is the set up for Seddie, not the actual moment. The real action is in the next chapter. That chapter will start badly for Sam, but not end that way. Thanks again to all who've reviewed the story.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

_I am so going to kill Freddie when I see his nerdish face! _ Sam thought as she stood in the elevator waiting for it to take her up to Carly's floor.

She had a horrible night with David and his parents, and it began with the four of them getting out of the car when they had reached Jaffe' Restaurant. She was getting helped out of the car by her boyfriend while his parents were waiting patiently standing at the curb. Sam wasn't watching where she was stepping and she accidently stomped in a puddle left on the curb from the previous rains. The dirty water splashed up and got on David's mother's dress, as well as her own dress. David's mom scowled at her, and marched into the restaurant to go to the ladies room to clean up. That wasn't a good start to the evening.

As they were waiting for their meal, Sam accidently spilled her soda onto the table, and some landed in her boyfriend's lap. She tried to apologize, but she was visibly shaken and nearly wanted to break down in tears. David tried to reassure her that it would be okay, but he wasn't very convincing.

She was so upset with the way the evening was going, that she could hardly eat anything (you know that had to be bad for her not to eat). She just sat back in her chair at the table and looked at what was happening around her. She noticed that David's dad was looking around the restaurant checking the other women out. Now she had understood where David's flirting came from. After getting wet from Sam stepping in that puddle earlier, David's mom hardly said a word to her. Instead she turned her attention to her cell phone, and the friends or family she was talking to. Even David wasn't much company for her. There was no chance for any kind of romantic evening for them tonight.

After dessert, they all left the restaurant to go attend a movie. They went to a romantic movie that had just premiered over the weekend. Sam knew that David's parents had picked out the movie, because Sam had never wanted a movie to end so badly. At one point, Sam had actually fallen asleep during the film and she was snoring in the theater. David had to shake her awake, and she got what seemed like looks of hate from his parents. She did everything she could to stay awake the rest of the way through the movie.

When the movie ended, they were initially going to stop off for ice cream, but David's mom insisted the evening was over; and they drove Sam home. When they arrived back at Bushwell Plaza, David was going to walk her up, but his parents insisted on "needing to go". So, Sam walked inside alone.

Why did Sam have such a tough night? One word: Freddie.

Ever since her "almost kiss" with him just prior to the date. All she could think about was what nearly happened between her and Freddie on the couch. She was thinking about how close they've become, especially in the last week or so. She was thinking about how bad she had been waiting for him to make a move.

_But why now of all times?_ She thought.

She was trying to make her relationship with David work, and Freddie knew this. David was her boyfriend, and Freddie knew this. She had even left wide open suggestion or situations for Freddie to try to make a move on her, and Freddie wouldn't take the bait. Sam felt that if Freddie would've gotten a clue and responded to her hints that maybe she and Freddie would have been dating right now and there wouldn't have even been an issue with David.

But Freddie would never tell her what she wanted to hear. As far as Sam was concerned, Freddie looked at her as one of his best friends in the world and that was all. How was she to think any different?

Since her mind was preoccupied the whole night, she couldn't concentrate on her date or anything else. This is why the "accidents" happened to her tonight. The worse the night got, the angrier she felt inside, and the more she wanted to take it out on the thing that started it.

Sam exited the elevator and made her way down the hallway. When she reached the Shay's apartment, she opened the door, and let herself in.

Carly and Spencer was sitting on the couch watching Comedy Central when they looked up to see Sam enter the apartment. Carly looked at her watch, "You're back already?" She asked, "I thought you'd be out later." Carly looked at Sam's body language and saw that things were not good.

Sam paused by the side of the couch. "Yeah, well, we kinda ended the night a little early." She said agitated.

Spencer turned to look at Sam, and Carly asked, "What happened tonight?"

Sam raised her head towards the ceiling for a second, and sighed heavily, "I just had the worst possible night of my life," she imploded, "I splashed in a mud puddle on Mrs. Gomez, spilled a soda on David, fell asleep during a movie, and wound up snoring in the theater." She was beginning to shake with anger.

Carly stood up and walked to her friend. "Calm down, you're beginning to scare me a little," she begged as she grabbed Sam's armed and kept her from rocking.

Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stopped shaking and stood still for several seconds. Then she asked, "Is Freddie still here?"

Carly had let go of her friend, but stood there beside her, "Yeah, he's still here," she answered curiously, "why?"

Sam began to slowly walk towards the stairs. She paused for a moment to face her friend, "I just need to talk to him about something important is all," she said very calmly.

"Okay," Carly answered as she returned to the couch, "Are you spending the night by the way?"

Sam was nearly up the stairs when she hollered down, "I'll let you know later."

XxXxXxXxXx

Freddie was wrapping up his cleaning project up for the night. He had just put away the last of his camera cases, when he turned to see Sam staring at him from across the room.

Sam stood quietly at the entrance to the studio staring at Freddie. Carly had calmed her down when Sam was down in the living room, but when Sam caught her first gaze of Freddie, her mood changed. She had anger towards him, but yet she also felt compassion for him at the same time. She was angry because she blamed the date disaster on Freddie, but at the same time she was more frustrated because he wouldn't share his feelings to her. She just stood there and watched him, trying to figure out how she was going to handle this confrontation.

Freddie stood up and began to walk slowly over to talk to Sam until he noticed how she looked. He saw that the bottom of her dress was dirty in spots, her hair was a bit of a mess, and her body language told him that she had had some kind of rough night. The way she was staring at him was making Freddie uncomfortable. He was still thinking about what almost happened a few hours beforehand, and he was curious about what was going on in Sam's mind.

The silence was a bit awkward, so Freddie decided to break it, "Hey Sam," he asked cautiously, "so, how did your date go this evening?"

Sam snapped out of her trance. Her temper began to flare up when she heard the question_, how do you think it went, you freakin' dork?_ She thought. "Well, if you must know," she began sarcastically, "I believe I had, like, the worst possible date known to man." Her face expression was darkening.

Freddie didn't like the mood she was in, so he tried very hard to be sympathetic with her, "Gosh Sam, I'm sorry," he said apologetic, "What happened?"

_What happened?_ Sam thought angrily, _You! Are what happened!_ She told Freddie the same thing she had told Carly downstairs, but added, "I've got you to thank for this you know." She finished in a harsh tone.

Now it was Freddie's turn to anger slightly. He looked at her with a confused look, "What exactly did I do to ruin your date?" He asked calmly but firmly.

"Oh, come on Freddie," Sam retorted, "How about the fact that just minutes before I was to go on a do-or-die date with my boyfriend, you try to make a move on me." Her anger was escalating, "How dare you try to do something like that!"

Now Freddie's temper was rising. "Hey," he said defensively, "as I recall it, I wasn't the only one that was making a move," He paused for a second, and blurted out, "You made a move on me too."

Sam's eyes widen to their limits, and her temper was at its worst level in some time. She snapped, and with a sudden fury, she charged at Freddie.

When Freddie saw Sam coming at him, he thought quickly, _Oh man, I went too far_. This was all he could think as his body tried to defend the blow that Sam had given him with her arms. He wasn't expecting this, and tried to get his arms up to stop her. But he forgot how strong Sam could be, and in the next moment he found himself getting knocked off balance. The blow he received caused him to slip and fall backwards onto the floor near his equipment. What was worse is that the back of his head caught the corner of his work table, and an immediate flash of pain entered his forehead. He lay there on the floor feeling like he was losing his wits, and he was actually beginning to black out a bit. The back of his hair felt wet, and he had an idea that he was bleeding back there, and he began to turn pale. But before he could reach back to touch the back of his head with his hand, he felt the weight of a 110 pound girl on him.

Sam had ignored the fact that she had just pushed Freddie to the ground and that he bumped his head. She was determined to set Freddie straight about what happened earlier on the couch. She lurched on top of him, and grabbed him by the back of his head, so that he would be looking at her while she spoke to him. "Let me tell you something Freddie Benson," she began powerfully, "No one tells me what I…"

She stopped speaking as she noticed her hands were getting wet and gooey. She pulled back her left hand to look at it, and she turned white when she saw she had blood on her hands. Her anger was gone, and she began to shake. She shrieked, "Oh my gosh, Freddie, you're bleeding!"

She quickly jumped off of him and began to look around the room to find something that would stop the bleeding. She saw some beach towels that they had used on a previous iCarly episode lying on a table next to the elevator. She hurried to grab one. She came back and knelt down next to Freddie. Sam wrapped the towel around his head to try to stop the bleeding. She felt horrible; tears were beginning to form in her eyes. She laid Freddie's head on her lap with the towel on the back of his head.

Freddie had been in a lot of pain through this sequence. He had heard Sam yelling at him, and he also felt Sam taking compassion on him too. For a few minutes, he was fighting the urge to black out; now that Sam put the towel on his head to control the bleeding, he was beginning to finally get his wits about him again, and the throbbing pain began to cease.

When his vision became clear, and he was thinking clearly again, he spoke to Sam softly, "I'm sorry Sam," he knew in his heart now that what happened on the couch had affected her date. "This was my fault. I guess I should have told you how I felt about you a long time ago."

Sam was softly rocking Freddie in her lap. She was glad to hear him speak after a few minute's silence. But she was confused with his statement. "What do you mean, Freddie?" She replied curiously.

Freddie took a deep breath, "I've liked you for a very long time now…probably since the day I saw you shoved aside by Danny when he and Carly first dated." He paused for a breath; then he continued, "I didn't tell you how I felt, because I wanted to be sure of what it was I was feeling for you."

She blushed slightly, but knew there was more she wanted to hear from him. "I don't understand, why couldn't you tell me?" She asked confused.

"Remember that day when Danny did that to you, and you and I wrote notes to each other in algebra class? Your final note to me was something I wouldn't forget, and I've tried to make sure that I wouldn't do it to you. You told me that you didn't want to be somebody's second choice. Do you remember that?" Freddie asked as he looked into her eyes.

Sam met his gaze and slowly nodded, "So, is that what you're trying to tell me, that I'm your second choice behind Carly," she asked trying not to let Freddie know she was getting hurt inside.

Freddie was feeling better now, and he rose up from Sam's lap and took the towel from her. He felt to see if his head was still bleeding, but it had finally stopped. He sat there next to Sam and took her hand.

"That's what I was trying to avoid," he said softly as he was feeling a little weepy himself, "I wanted to analyze how I felt about you as opposed to what I felt for Carly. Carly was a girl that seemed perfect to me because she was just like me, and my vision was that we would have the perfect life together."

Sam looked away, but Freddie used his other hand to gently pull her face back to face him.

"Sam, you are a girl that is the complete opposite of me, but I realized that I would have a more interesting time with you, because you try to bring the best out in me. You compete with me, and you've toughened me up." He smiled at her as he said this, trying to get her to grin, but she was still looking very sad and hurt.

"All right," she said, "so you've told me what it is that you liked about me and Carly. But I feel like I am your second choice, since Carly turned you down."

Freddie squeezed her hand. "But the reason I waited to tell you was because I wanted to be sure of my feelings. There is a difference between how I felt for Carly, and how I feel about you. I realized this in the last week."

Sam looked a little confused, "What's the difference?"

Freddie grabbed both of her hands now. "Carly Shay was never anything more than a crush to me, and I was able to move on from her…but, I can't from you though, Sam…" he paused as tears began to run down his eyes, "…I'm in love with you."

Sam didn't know what to feel as she heard these words spoken to her. She couldn't help but have tears flow down her eyes as well. Even though Freddie had her hands, she still trembled a bit. She tried to force a smile as she replied very shakily, "Y-You love me? Really?"

"Yes," Freddie smiled as he took his right hand and placed it on her cheek, "I love you Sam." He moved into her and softly put his lips on hers. She softly responded back by pressing in a bit to make their kiss deeper. After about 15 seconds she backed off the kiss and looked into his eyes.

Sam smiled through tears of joy that were falling from her face. She let go of his hands, and she put them on his face. "Freddie, I was hoping you were going to say this to me someday…" she paused as she tried to control her happiness for a second. "I-I love you too, Freddie." She finished.

Freddie smiled like he was at peace. He reached over to embrace Sam, and they held each other for several minutes. Fireworks were going on in his head, and in his heart he was finally content.

Sam closed her eyes and held him close to her. She knew that the feelings that she was having for Freddie right now were nothing like the feelings she had had for David. She knew that everything was going to be all right. She knew she wouldn't have to worry about other girls with him. Best of all, she knew that she was going to be loved, and there was no better feeling than that.

**Author's Note: I spent some extra time tweaking this chapter so it would come out right. I hope you enjoyed it. When I originally had the vision for this story, I had the story ending here, but for whatever reason, I kept writing. 8 chapters to go. Let me know if this was okay or not. I hope to hear from you. Thank you all so much to everyone who has liked the story. – kwags74 **


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The two of them could have stayed in each other's arms all night; unfortunately though, Freddie's cell phone began to ring.

He groaned as he let go of Sam to grab his phone. He knew the ringtone, and he looked to Sam and whispered, "Mom," and rolled his eyes. Sam also rolled her eyes and smiled back at him.

"Hi, mom," Freddie said as he answered the phone, "Yes, mom, I'm still at Carly's place; up in the studio." Freddie stood up while he was speaking. He offered a hand to Sam to help her up, and he pulled her up.

"Yes, I know it's really getting late," he stated patiently to his mother on the phone, "I've just about got everything done here, and I'll be home in a couple of minutes."

Normally, Sam wouldn't want to be anywhere near Freddie when he was on the phone. But she was feeling so happy right now; that she felt like being a little ornery. She slipped in behind Freddie, and began to nibble on his ear.

Freddie continued, "No mom, it's not necessary for you to come o-…Sam!" He snickered as he felt Sam behind him doing something to his ear. He turned around to see Sam laughing hysterically at him. Ordinarily, he would have been mad at her for doing something like this, but he just grinned at her, "Oh, you're so going to get it!"

"You gotta catch me first," she laughed and began to move around the room.

Freddy hung up the phone on his mother, and began to chase Sam around the room. It took about a minute to catch her, as she was dodging him at every turn. Finally, he got his arms wrapped around her waist, and they dropped into a beanbag chair. They giggled as they held each other. Then they leaned into each other and kissed passionately.

As they broke the kiss, they kept themselves close to each other as they leaned their foreheads on one another, and closed their eyes. They took a few deep breaths as they relaxed.

"Freddie!" Mrs. Benson's voice shrilled from below them, "I want you down here this instant!"

They both opened their eyes and groaned. They looked to the stairway, and knew it was time to go downstairs.

"I guess we better go downstairs and face real life," Freddie said disappointedly. He and Sam stood up from the beanbag chair.

"Do we have to?" Sam asked softly. The shrieking sound of Mrs. Benson calling for her son again answered her question.

"I'm coming!" Freddie hollered agitatedly to his mother. He turned to Sam, "I'm afraid so," he said quietly, smirking slightly.

Sam smiled, and kissed his cheek. She grabbed his hand and they began to walk down the stairs.

XxXxXxXxXx

"Frederick Benson, I can't remember the last time I have been so upset with you. I can't believe you hung up on your own mother." Mrs. Benson barked at her son as he finally had come downstairs with Sam.

Carly and Spencer were still on the couch, but it looked as though they had fallen asleep watching the movie that had been on. Mrs. Benson had awaked the two up when she had come over to get her son.

"I'm sorry, mom," Freddie answered, "That was an accident." He looked over to Sam indicating that she had something to do with it. She just smiled, but she turned and looked away from them.

"It is very, very late, now let's go," Mrs. Benson said impatiently motioning for her son to follow her out the door.

Freddie, who was still holding Sam's hand, began to walk towards the door, with her following him, "Good night Carly, and Spencer," he said grinning.

As Sam was following Freddie out the door, she called to them, "I'll be back in a minute cupcake,"

It was at that moment that Carly realized that Sam and Freddie were holding hands. Her eyes widened, "Whoa, wait a minute Sam," she hollered, "what's going on here?"

Sam looked back as she walked out the door, "I'll tell you in a sec." She smiled as she disappeared out the door.

Mrs. Benson hadn't noticed anything either, until she was opening the door to her apartment, and saw Freddie waiting there with Sam holding his hand.

Mrs. Benson looked shocked, "Frederick Benson is there something you need to tell me?" She asked her son.

Freddie smiled, "Oh, you mean my new girlfriend?" He asked with a quiet smirk, "Yes, Sam and I got together about twenty minutes ago."

Sam smiled as well. "We've only been going out for twenty minutes?" She asked quietly looking at him.

Mrs. Benson turned to Sam. "Do you care about my son, Samantha?" She asked a little surprised. Mrs. Benson had grown to like Sam more since Sam and Freddie began studying together. But she had no idea there were feelings between the two of them. "Because I thought you didn't like my Freddie very much, since you always make fun of him."

"I've always liked your son," Sam answered somewhat politely, "and I care about him very much. I tease him, because that is who I am. Freddie has been a very good influence on me, and my teasing him is having a good influence on him."

"Mom," Freddie put in, "Sam has made me a lot tougher of an individual; she makes me stand up for myself. She makes me stronger and more secure. I have never been more happier in my life, than when she and I spend time together."

Sam appreciated the comments, and gave his hand a squeeze. Freddie pulled their conjoined hands to his lips, and kissed her hand.

Mrs. Benson was speechless. She stood there looking at the two teenagers for a moment. "Very well then," she said as she walked inside the apartment, "Freddie, say good night to your girlfriend, but be quick." She disappeared inside.

Freddie turned to face Sam, and took her other hand, "I don't know about you, but I don't want this night to end." He said calmly.

Sam began to smile, "You're always going to be a dork, aren't you?" She happily began swinging they're locked hands around back and forth gently.

He grinned, "And you're never going to quit insulting me, are you?"

Sam continued to smile, "Why should I stop?" She asked playfully, "this is what we do. We've always done it, and we'll continue to do it. I believe that's what will make our relationship work. Don't you agree?"

Freddie rolled his eyes, "Agreed," he sighed. Then he stopped swinging his arms with Sam, and pulled her close to him. His eyes twinkled, "As long as you know who's "dork" I am?" He asked with a big grin.

Sam smiled the biggest grin she had all night, "Oh, you're definitely "my" dork, baby." She leaned into him and kissed his lips passionately.

"Awwww," came the sound of Carly's voice as she stood in her doorway looking at them, "You guys…"

"Okay, I better go in," Freddie said blushing as he let go of Sam, and walked into his apartment, "I'll see you in the morning."

"You better…" Sam said seriously; then smirked as she backed across the hallway to Carly's door.

"I love you, Sam." Freddie called to her softly.

"I love you too, Freddie." She replied just as softly as he shut the door. Sam turned to face Carly, who was standing there with a big grin on her face. "Aw, what mom?" She sighed.

Carly giggled, "I want to know everything."

Sam groaned, "Man, can't we do this in the morning, I'm tired," she dragged herself back into Carly's apartment, and began to make her way to Carly's bedroom.

"Don't you dare do this to me, Sam," Carly complained, "I'm dying to know. Can't you tell me anything?"

Sam smiled, "I'll tell you this," she said as she plopped down on Carly's bed, "I just had the best possible night of my life." With that, she closed her eyes.

**Author's Note: Kind of a short chapter, and I supposed it could have been joined with the previous chapter but I chose not to. You'll see Mrs. Benson a little more in these final chapters too. Sam and Freddie get to spend their first full day together as bf/gf in the next chapter. Which one is Freddie? Find out!**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

It's been a long time since Sam has had a good night sleep. She had fallen asleep so quickly, that she hadn't changed her clothes. She was still wearing the dress from her date with David last night. She woke up feeling happy and refreshed, but when she realized she was still wearing the dress, she quickly got it off, and hopped in the shower.

Carly was waiting for Sam in her room when Sam came back from the shower to get dressed. Immediately, Carly started to drill Sam about what took place last night that got her and Freddie together.

"Geez, can't I even get dressed first?" Sam moaned as she reached in her backpack for a long-sleeve t-shirt and pair of jeans.

"Sam," Carly cried, "I'm dying here," she pleaded with her friend to tell her the story.

"I'll tell you and Spencer both what happened when I get into the kitchen to eat," Sam replied, as she was putting her jeans on. She quickly put her shirt on, and walked out of the bedroom towards the kitchen.

"You can be so impossible sometimes," Carly said annoyed, but she followed her friend into the kitchen.

Spencer was finishing his bacon and eggs at the table, when Sam reached the refrigerator. "Hey Spence," she said as she was about to bury her head in the fridge door, "how's your hand feeling today?"

Spencer's hand had some new bandages on it that he had put on first thing in the morning. "It stings at times," he said with a serious face, "but it looks like it's healing okay."

"All right Sam," Carly snapped, as she joined her brother at the kitchen table, "no more stalling. We're both here, now tell us what happened with you and Freddie last night."

Spencer was just about to get up, but he was interested in finding out what happened as well. "Yeah," he said with a smile, "I've really got to stay for this."

Sam pulled out some turkey leftovers from the Thanksgiving dinner, and took a seat at the table. "Oh all right, you two," she growled slightly, "I'll tell you now."

So, Sam told the Shay siblings what happened yesterday which included the incident on the couch. She told them about what happened when she returned from her date, and the confrontation she had with Freddie upstairs. She told them about pushing Freddie to the floor and nearly cracking his head open; about the fact that they finally opened up about their feelings to one another, and finally about how they admitted their love to one another.

Carly and Spencer just "oooed", and "aahed", and "awwed", while Sam told them the story. When Sam was finished, she got up from the table; put the remaining leftovers in the fridge, and began to walk back towards Carly's bedroom. The doorbell rang, and she stopped in her tracks grinning.

"Go ahead and get the door Sam, we know it's for you," Carly smirked, and Spencer was smiling at Sam broadly.

Sam rolled her eyes at them, but she began blushing. She walked to the door, and opened it. Sure enough, the door was definitely for her.

"Good morning my sweet," Freddie smiled as he gazed at the object of his affection.

"Yeah, good morning to you too, dork," she said dryly, but was having a hard time holding back a smile.

Freddie walked in and stood a few inches in front of her, "Did you not have a good night's sleep last night?" He asked curiously, still grinning a bit.

"No," Sam couldn't look at him without laughing, so she gazed at his chest, and said, "I had a GREAT night's sleep last night. Ask Carly."

Freddie looked past Sam to Carly. Carly met Freddie's gaze, and hollered, "Yes Freddie, Sam fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow." Carly got up from the kitchen table, and wanted a closer view of the entertainment that was in front of her, so she walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Spencer left the kitchen, and went into his room.

Freddie turned back to Sam, and noticed that she wasn't facing him. He had a feeling she was doing this on purpose, so he put his hands on her face, and slowly raised her head so that her gaze met his. "Did my girl sleep like a baby last night?" He asked trying not to laugh.

"You've got to be the biggest dweeb I've ever met," she called out to his face with a great big grin; then all she could do was just laugh. She wrapped her arms around Freddie and hugged him tight.

Freddie had let go of her face with his hands when she embraced him, he was also giggling with his girlfriend, and held her warmly. He kissed the top of her head firmly; then laid his chin on her head.

The laughing began to cease, and Freddie moved his head to gaze at Sam. They leaned in to lock lips in a soft kiss.

Carly looked at her friends. "I am so happy for the two of you," she said, as she rose from the couch and gave Sam and Freddie a hug. The three of them hugged for several seconds.

Finally, they broke out of their circle, and Carly excused herself to go to her bedroom for a few minutes.

Freddie reached back to rub the back of his head for a moment, as the sore that was on the back of his head from falling the previous night began to cause a little discomfort.

Sam noticed him doing this, "Does your head still hurt that much?" She asked concerned.

"It just stings a little at times," he answered her as he quit rubbing his head. Sam reached back behind his head and started rubbing it gently. Freddie closed his eyes and sighed softly as she was doing this.

Sam grinned slightly, "I'm just returning the favor that you did for me last week when I was the one with a bump on the head," she said as she finished rubbing and she bent over to kiss his cheek.

Freddie opened his eyes and smiled back at her, "Well, my head is definitely feeling better now. I feel ready to do anything now."

"Great," she said, "so what were you planning on doing with me today, my new boytoy?"

"Actually," Freddie answered Sam, "I came by to see if you wanted to exercise with me this morning."

"Sure," Sam replied smiling, "but I need to go by my place on the way to get my gym clothes."

Freddie nodded, "Okay," he replied, "just let me know when you are ready to go."

Sam began walking towards Carly's bedroom. "I just need to make sure I have everything first," she called out as she disappeared for a minute.

Freddie waited patiently pondering his thoughts about the events of the last twelve hours. _I can't believe I'm exercising with my girlfriend today,_ he thought, _and that girlfriend is Sam!_

Sam reappeared, "You ready?" She asked quickly.

Freddie nodded, "Yep," and followed her out into the hall, "My gym clothes are right by my front door," he said, as he opened the door to his apartment; reached in for his bag, and shut the door again. They were walking down the hallway to the elevator.

"Hey Freddo," she asked gently, "we are doing more today that exercising, right?"

"Well, yeah," he answered surprised, "I was hoping we could spend the whole day together doing stuff."

"You mean I have to spend my 'whole' day with you?" She smirked.

They had reached the elevator, and as the door opened, Freddie reached over and grabbed Sam and lifted her up. Sam squealed but was also laughing.

Freddie was laughing too. "Of course you have to spend the 'whole' day with your boyfriend!" He hollered loudly to anyone who could listen. He finally put Sam down when they were in the elevator.

"All right, I guess, you talked me into it." Sam tried to answer with a serious face. But when she looked at Freddie, they both began to giggle.

They took each other's hand, and walked out of the elevator when it came to a rest at the lobby. They walked out of the building, and began their first adventure together as boyfriend and girlfriend.

XxXxXxXxXx

They made a quick stop at Sam's place so she could grab her gym clothes. Sam had wanted to tell her mom that she had a new boyfriend, but, as usual, her mother wasn't at home to find out. So after she grabbed her bag, the two headed for the gym.

They spent two hours at the gym. They played a couple games of racket ball. Freddie won the first game easily, but Sam was determined in the second game to beat him, and she did barely. Afterward, they played a little one-on-one hoops on the basketball court. The game started out fun, but they got a little out of control down the stretch as they were purposely fouling each other just to get a little physical with one another playfully. Later, they worked with weights in the weight room. Freddie mostly watched Sam during this period as his head was hurting a little and he didn't want to push it. After they changed back to their street clothes, they decided to make a quick stop to Groovie Smoothies.

The three of them didn't stop at Groovie Smoothies much these days because the weather was turning so cool, and they didn't like to drink cold smoothies in cold weather. Today, though, Freddie and Sam had quite a workout, and they felt the coolness from drinking a smoothie would feel nice.

They both ordered 32oz smoothies with Sam getting a blueberry flavor, and Freddie getting a cherry flavor. They went to the table that they sat in on that miserable day in September in which Sam had been blown off my Carly's boyfriend.

When they got seated, both of them took big sips of their smoothies. "This smoothie is so-o good," Sam said blinking heavily, "but I sure am getting hungry though."

"Yeah, me too," Freddie answered as he tried to keep up with Sam on drinking his smoothie, "what did you want to do about lunch?"

"We could go back to my place," she answered giving him a wicked smile.

"Sam," he grinned, "you naughty little girl," he laughed. As much as he had been waiting for the two for them to get together; and to be alone with her, he suddenly realized that he was nervous to REALLY be alone with her.

Sam gave him a playful punch to the arm. "Control them nerdy little hormones, Freddo," she said with a smirk, "I wasn't trying to imply something like that." But hearing a comment like that come out of Freddie's mouth did surprise her. It sort of made her a little nervous. Her face began to turn serious. "You're not going to be one of those guys, are you Freddie?"

He saw how serious she was about this, and he took it seriously as well. He loved Sam very much, and wanted to be with her whenever possible, but he knew that they would only stay together by taking things slow, and being truthful about everything.

"Sam," he began, "you and I won't even be fifteen until early next year. Besides, I'm in no rush to do anything that you and I wouldn't be ready for. Gosh, we haven't even been dating for a full day yet. I love what you and I have now, and I wouldn't jeopardize that for the world."

Sam smiled. She got up from the table (she had been sitting across from him), and moved to where he was sitting, and sat down next to him. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I know that you would never hurt me like that."

Freddie wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Freddie bent down and lightly kissed her head. He sat back up and they sat in silence for a few minutes. It was just as well; they had been slurping their smoothies so fast, that they were getting a brain freeze.

Sam's cell phone broke the silence. In fact, it startled both Freddie and Sam to the point that it made them jump. Sam reached into her pocket to grab the phone. She looked to see who was calling, and frowned when she saw who it was. She set the phone down on the table letting it continue to ring.

"Sam, who's calling you?" Freddie asked surprised that she would just let it ring and not pick it up.

"David," she answered quietly staring at the phone. After a few seconds, the ringing stopped. Thirty seconds after that her phone beeped, indicating that she had a voice mail.

"Oh," Freddie had said while this sequence with Sam's phone was going on. He looked over to Sam, "Are you going to talk to him?"

Sam shook her head, "No," she said, her mind racing, "I really don't have anything to say to him. I'm surprised he even bothered to call me considering how the date went last night."

She rose from the table to grab her jacket and gym bag. Freddie followed suit.

They threw their cups in the garbage can, and went outside. Instantly, they began to shiver from drinking the cold drink; and then going out to sub-40 degree temperatures.

Freddie noticed that Sam was really cold, so he took his jacket off, and put it around Sam. This made him a little cold, but he didn't care about himself. They only had a short distance to walk to get home.

"I know where we can eat lunch," Freddie said, and grabbed Sam's hand. They began to walk away from his building, and back towards Sam's place.

Sam was all ears. "Where, Freddo?" She asked somewhat excited.

"Let's go to Marina Park," he grinned, "we'll stop at your place first to drop off your bag, and I'll call a cab to take us."

Sam smiled, "That sounds great, let's go!" She began to run to her apartment.

Freddie's stomach was still settling from the smoothie, but he raced to catch up with her.

They reached her place, and went inside for a few minutes to warm up, and for Sam to drop off her bag. Freddie called for a cab, and they waited at the front door for it to arrive.

While they were waiting, Sam decided to listen to the voice mail that David had left her. She was rolling her eyes and shaking her head while listening to the message. She put the phone back into her pocket after she was listening without saying a word.

Freddie wasn't sure what to say. He was staring at Sam the whole time, and he saw that she showed very little emotion on the situation.

Finally, Freddie said, "You're not having second thoughts about being with me, are you?"

Sam whipped around to look at him, and gave him a weird look, "Are you crazy, you big dork?" She said passively, "you saw how that jerk treated me, like I was number one until a prettier girl walked by. How can you say that I want to be with that?"

Freddie shrugged apologetically, "Sorry, I just want to make sure that you and I are on the same page here," he said trying not to get upset, "I mean you've had to decide between me and him, and I know he's better looking than I am…"

Sam began to laugh out loud. It caught Freddie by surprise. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be angry that she was laughing or happy.

"You seriously think I would rather be with someone who's nice on the outside rather than someone who's nice on the inside?" Sam asked as her laughter subsided. "Freddork, don't get me wrong, I want to be with a cute guy and all," she said with a twinkle in her eye, as she put her hand on Freddie's cheek, "so yes, you're cute, and…I LOVE you." She reached over and kissed him gently on the lips.

"You've shown me nothing but love and caring for me since the beginning of the school year, if not even before that," Sam continued, "if you promise me that you can be that sort of man that feels for me the way you have since; I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. It's that simple Freddie."

Freddie nodded and smiled. Their cab was pulling up to the door. "I promise." He said gently.

She grabbed his hand, and they walked over to the cab. "Now, let's go have some fun," she smiled.

"Oh yeah, baby," he smiled as they got into the cab.

**Author's Note: And so the relationship begins. It was nice that they discussed their feelings about what they expect from one another. At the moment, they are communicating well, and understanding each other. School is back in session in the next chapter, and it'll prove to be an interesting day. Thanks again to all who review.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Freddie's body ached when he woke up early the next morning, but he knew he'd be seeing his girl at school, so he jumped out of bed, and quickly got ready.

He and Sam spent several hours at Marina Park. They ate, played video games, hit the dance studio, and went down the slides. At about 5pm, Freddie's mom had called, wanting to know where he and Sam were. Mrs. Benson offered to come pick them up, so they wouldn't have to take another cab. Mrs. Benson dropped Sam off at her place before heading home.

He hurried and ate breakfast; then went across the hall to Carly's. Spencer offered to give the teens a ride to school. On the ride there, Freddie was getting drilled by Carly about what happened on their first day together as boyfriend and girlfriend, so he told Carly what he and Sam did.

When they reached the main hallway of the school, Freddie asked Carly where Danny had been all weekend. She replied to him that Danny had followed his parents to San Francisco to spend time with his older sister who lived and worked in the Bay area.

They reached Freddie's locker first, and Freddie put away his jacket, and emptied his book bag. He snatched his history stuff, and shut the locker door. He followed Carly to her's and Sam's locker where the love of his life was busy getting ready to go to class.

"Hey beautiful," he smiled as he stood next to her, watching her shut her locker door.

"Hey yourself," she smiled back and reached over to give him a quick kiss.

"I'm so happy for you guys, but don't make me have to tell you to get a room," Carly sighed as she got into her locker to get her history homework. She was about to shut her locker door, when she saw Danny approaching her. "Hi, sweetie, I missed you," she smiled as she put her arms around Danny.

"Hey, I missed you too," he answered not quite as excitedly. He released himself from Carly's hug. "Sorry I didn't call much, but we were all over the San Francisco area this weekend. And our flight didn't get back until late last night," he continued.

"Oh, that's okay," Carly continued to smile, "I'm just glad you returned home safely."

"Thanks," he said. He looked over her shoulder to see Sam. "Oh Sam, I called David last night, and he said your date didn't go well Saturday night. He told me that he tried to call you yesterday, and that you didn't return his call." It was at that moment, that he noticed that Sam was holding Freddie's hand. "Well," he said a little snottishly, "I guess I can see why you didn't return his call. I see it's because you're kinda two-timing my best friend, huh?"

Freddie's temper began to flare up and he clenched his fists. He stepped forward, "You got a problem with my girlfriend…"

Freddie was stopped in his tracks by Sam. She put her arm across the front of his chest, and held him back. "Thanks Freddie," she said firmly but nicely, "but I'll take care of this." She began to glare at Danny.

Carly was shocked. She had never seen Danny like this in the two and a half months that they've been seeing each other.

"Do you have a short track memory, or are you just a doof?" Sam asked Danny angrily, "Because if my memory serves me right, and I think it does, your little 'best friend' was busy 'two-timing' me at Marina Park last Sunday when I needed him the most."

"Whoa," Danny said defensively, "David wasn't seeing anyone behind your back at Marina Park."

"And what do you call the aggressive flirting he was doing with a whole bunch of girls, while his girlfriend was injured, and in need of help?" Sam snarled, "He ought to be lucky I even wanted to see his sorry face the other night to try to work a relationship out. We weren't meant to be; that's all there is to it."

"Guys," Carly gasped, trying to give this conversation a rest, "we've got to get to class, the bell rings in two minutes."

"I'm not worried about class right now," Freddie told Carly as he continued to stand patiently at Sam's side.

"Danny," Carly called, reaching for her boyfriend's arm.

"No, hang on Carly," Danny said, ignoring Carly's hand and turning back to face Sam, "So you're going to just blow David off without properly calling and telling him so?"

"He's not my husband or fiancée'," Sam retorted, "I don't owe him anything. When he realizes I'm not returning his calls; I think he'll be smart enough to realize that I don't want to see him again."

Danny shook his head, "But you're his girlfriend, it's not like you were dating, you've been seeing him for over a month and a half now."

"Was," Sam pointed out as she moved forward and made a hand gesture to indicate this, "I was his girlfriend. He messed things up the previous weekend, and yet I was nice enough to go on a date with him and his folks on Saturday, to see if he and I still had a relationship, and we found out that we didn't."

Carly didn't want to be late for class, so she sprinted past the three, and entered the history room just seconds before the bell rang. The others were too busy in their confrontation to notice her leaving, or the bell ringing.

Danny sighed, "So what am I suppose to tell David when he calls me tonight?" He asked dryly.

"Tell your friend that he can go out with one of the girls he likes to flirt with, because I'm not seeing him again." Sam said plainly, giving David a look.

David lifted up his arms and dropped them, "So, you won't give him another chance, huh?"

Sam shook her head like she thought that Danny was nuts, "No," she nearly moaned, "What part can't you…"

"Why is it so important that Sam has to be with David?" Freddie interrupted, "you seem to be a little obsessed with this." Sam had turned to Freddie when he spoke, and wanted him to be quiet. But when she heard the question her boyfriend asked, she grinned and turned back to Danny with her arms crossed.

For the first time, Danny backed off. He felt that he was outnumbered, and he was. He was also out of answers, and he didn't like the way the conversation was going. He looked around. The hallway was empty now except for the three of them. He stole a glance at his watch; then snarled at the pair that was in front of him in defeat, and took off for class.

Sam turned back around to face Freddie, and wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for staying here with me, and letting me handle that creep," she said contently.

He held her back, and kissed the top of her forehead, "He is a creep, isn't he?" He asked.

"Ever since I've known him," she answered. She took Freddie's hand and walked towards the history classroom. The door was shut since class had begun. "I really don't want to go in there, and cause a scene," she whispered as she looked through the small window into the classroom.

"Well, we're going to get detention if we go in late," Freddie whispered back. Then he began to smile, "We would also get detention if we didn't show at all." He looked to Sam.

Sam gave him a puzzled look at first; then she beamed at him, "Are you implying what I think you are, my little nerd boyfriend?" She smiled broadly.

Freddie grabbed his girlfriend's hand, and they walked very briskly through the hallway to the front door of the school. "I'll race you to the park, my little love bug," he grinned.

"You'll have to catch me first, Techboy!" She hollered as she cheated; for she was already running to the park.

XxXxXxXxXx

It's a good thing they had dressed warmly, because in their excitement to ditch class, they forgot to grab their jackets. Luckily, it wasn't windy out, and the temps weren't that low on this Monday morning as the month of December was beginning.

They found a tree in the park that was facing the school, and Freddie had a seat underneath it. He braced his back against the trunk, and put his legs straight forward. Sam lay down on his lap, and listened as Freddie opened his history textbook, and began reading the next lesson to her.

For the most part, she listened with her eyes closed. At times, though, she stole a look at Freddie reading away. He was unaware that she was smiling at him while he was reading. She felt so alive and happy when she spent time with him. She knew she was in love, and she hoped the feeling wouldn't ever go away.

She wished they could sit here all day. But after thirty minutes had passed, the alarm she had set on her phone so they wouldn't be late for second period went off. She sighed, and got up from Freddie.

He closed his textbook, and stood up to follow his girlfriend back to the school. Freddie didn't want to go back either, but he knew they had to. His back was hurting from leaning it against the tree, and he needed to get moving anyway, as parts of his body were falling to sleep. The walk back to the school fixed all that.

They walked back into the school a few minutes before the bell rang that would release the students from first period. They stopped at Sam's locker first, to get her algebra stuff. And just when the bell rang, they reached Freddie's locker to get his stuff.

The classrooms were emptying out while Sam and Freddie were trying to get into the algebra classroom. Finally, they made it in.

"First ones' here," Freddie announced as he and Sam made their way to their seats.

"You're such a dork," Sam rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn't help smiling at him either. That's the big thing Freddie's good for, and that was making her smile.

_The rest of today will be cake_, she thought.

**Author's Note: So we are finally seeing a dark side to Danny now. It seems this cute young man might have a thing about wanting things to happen the way he sees fit. And how about the fact that Freddie decides to ditch class today. So un-Freddie like. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it winds down. Let me know what you think.**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Sam was kind of sad after algebra class ended.

She and Freddie had different classes after second period, and she wouldn't see him again until lunch. After a very dull hour of health class, she went into English class with a little better spirit, because she would see Carly in class.

This was the first time she had seen her best friend since before school began, when Danny confronted Sam about David before first period History.

Carly was already in her seat, when Sam came in to take her seat near Carly. Carly looked at her, "Where were you and Freddie at during history this morning?" She asked interestedly.

Sam wrinkled her face, and replied, "Since your boy toy made us really late for class this morning, we decided to ditch class."

Carly smiled dryly, "I see you're already giving Freddie bad ideas."

"Actually," Sam retorted, "it was his idea to blow off class today." She got her homework out of her book bag, and looked through it while she spoke. "We wound up spending a nice forty minutes or so at the park."

"Wow," Carly said thoughtfully, "I never thought I'd see the day that Freddie would be a rebel at school."

"Well, believe it Carls;" Sam said with a smirk, "my man is a bad seed." She was through reviewing her homework, and she looked back up at Carly, "So, what is YOUR man's problem, anyway?"

"I don't know," Carly answered slightly dazed, "I've never seen him act like that before. When I asked him about it after history class this morning, he got all mad with me and everything." She shook her head, "We wound up having our first real fight like ever," she pouted.

Sam looked away from Carly, and rolled her eyes. _Oh no,_ she thought, _there's trouble in Wonderland. These two have been dating for nearly three months, and they just now had a real fight? Geez._ "I'm sorry to hear about that," Sam consoled slightly, "of course, you know how I feel about the guy."

The bell rang, and class began. Mrs. Payton had them turn in their short book reports. It was the assignment that was given to them over the four day holiday.

Carly whispered over to Sam, "Anyway, I'm going to try to talk to him at lunch. Do you and Freddie want to sit with us?"

Sam gave her friend a weird look, "Are you serious?" She whispered annoyed, "after the way he treated me this morning, I don't want anything to do with him. Freddie and I might go out for lunch or something."

"Okay," Carly nodded disappointedly. She didn't get another word in, because Mrs. Payton was beginning to teach the class the next lesson in their studies.

XxXxXxXxXx

And Sam didn't join her friend for lunch. She grabbed Freddie at his locker, and told him about his conversation with Carly during English class. Sam insisted that they stay in for lunch, and sit at a table with a view of Carly and Danny, but not at a table that was close.

Freddie would have rather spent his lunch talking to his girl, rather than spying on Carly and Danny, but Sam insisted that it was important to watch what was going to happen at Carly's table. So he sat there eating his lunch with Sam without saying a word.

Carly was sitting alone at a table in the lunch room for nearly five minutes before Danny came to the table and joined her. Normally, when he joined his girlfriend, he would surprise her from behind, or give her either a hug or kiss. Today, he just took a seat across from her without saying a word. Clearly, he was still bothered by what happened this morning.

What had upset Danny was not only the fact that his girlfriend didn't back him up earlier, but the fact that she abandoned him so she wouldn't be late for class. As he quietly began to eat his lunch, he wouldn't even look Carly in the face.

Carly was miserable. She was getting the silent treatment from her own boyfriend. She didn't even know what to say to try to get him to talk, without them getting into an argument over what happened earlier in the day. They never really fought before; this was new territory in their relationship. She knew that someday they were going to have a real disagreement or argument, but things had always gone so well in the past, that she really wasn't prepared for a bad day.

Carly stared across the table at her boyfriend. She was getting upset with him for just sitting there eating rather than engaging in a conversation. Finally, she spoke to him, "So, how was your trip to San Francisco?"

Danny knew what she was trying to do, and he didn't want to act like a total jerk; so he answered, "Fine, my family and I had a great Thanksgiving." He still looked down while he spoke.

Carly nodded, though she knew that he didn't see her do so, because he still refused to look at her. "Did you and your family do anything while you were down…?"

"Why don't you ask me what's really on your mind?" Danny interrupted rather curtly, but not angrily.

Carly took a deep breath. "What is it that I did is really upsetting you the most?" She asked somewhat upset herself.

For the first time since he sat down, Danny looked up at Carly. He gave her a strange look, and shook his head slightly. "How about the fact that we had usually stuck by one another in everything that we did together," he said, "but you bailed on me today. I really could have used you backing me up…"

"Backing you up on what?" Carly intervened, "trying to tell my best friends that they were wrong to hook up?"

"No," Danny sighed, "telling Sam that the least she could have done was give David a chance before…"

"She gave him a chance!" Carly exclaimed, "Actually more than one chance; the relationship wasn't working for her."

"Well, why didn't she tell David that she was ending her relationship with him before she started a new one?" Danny snapped.

"Sam and Freddie just sort of happened," she replied, her anger rising as well, "maybe…maybe Sam might have been in the wrong for not calling David to end the relationship, but he should have figured it out when Sam wasn't returning his calls."

"What I'm trying to get at is the fact that what Sam did was rude," Danny grumbled.

Carly gave him a strange look, "Well, what did you think happened when two people end a relationship?" She asked annoyed, "they were always going to break up nicely? 'Hi, David, I'm going to break up with you'. 'No problem Sam, thanks for calling me to tell me know'." Carly was using two different voices to illustrate sarcastically how Danny should think two people would break up.

Danny got up from the table, "I'm outta here," he muttered, as he left the table to walk to the door leading to the school's main hallway.

"Fine then!" Carly concluded as she continued to sit angrily. When her anger subsided, she felt tears forming in her eyes. She put her head down on her arms that she folded on the table, and sobbed softly, hoping no one would notice.

When Carly raised her head to wipe away the tears, she saw that Sam and Freddie had taken the seat across the table where Danny had been moments ago. "Are you okay?" Sam asked her sympathetically.

Carly tried to pull herself together as Sam moved around the table to sit next to Carly. Sam put her arm around Carly and hugged her friend. Freddie moved around the table from the other side, and sat down on Carly's opposite side. He wrapped his arm around Carly from that side, and hugged her.

Carly stretched her arms around the back of both her friends, and hugged back. She was thankful for such good friends. "I'm much better now guys, thanks." She answered gently and warmly.

The three got up from the table, and threw away their trash. Then, they walked out of the lunch room, to the main hallway of the school which was the same path that Danny took a few minutes earlier. The three walked down the hallway side by side, with Sam in the middle flanked by Freddie on her left holding her hand, and Carly walking alongside on her right.

As they were making their way to the girls' lockers, Freddie asked Carly, "Do you think things will be all right between you and Danny?"

"I'm sure we will eventually work things through," Carly answered, but not real confidently.

"I hate to not be supportive Carls," Sam spoke up, "but when it comes to that guy, you're on your own with him. I just can't stand the guy."

"I know you can't stand him," Carly said sadly. She was beginning to feel really alone in all this.

"I think what Sam is trying to say is that we'll be there for you to lean on," Freddie stated, as he looked to his girlfriend to try to show a little more compassion, "it's just the way he acted this morning to Sam, has got us both really thinking he's some kind of egotistic jerk or something."

"All right," Carly replied, clearly getting the picture, "I think I understand what it is you are trying to tell me, but Danny did have a point. You really should have called David back, Sam."

"What?!" Sam cried.

"No, seriously Sam," Carly replied, "all you had to do was call him and end it. I think that's all Danny was trying to say. He was only defending his friend. I'm still not sure why he acted the way he did though."

Sam thought a second as the three of them continued to walk. Then she sighed, "I guess you're right Carls," she said rolling her eyes slightly, "I guess I could have called the jerk and ended it. I could have made it short and sweet, like only I can do."

Carly smiled lightly at her, and Freddie smirked and squeezed Sam's hand. Sam continued, "I know that couldn't have been easy for you to defend us while you were talking to your guy, but I appreciate it."

"Yeah, thanks Carly," Freddie added, "we are sorry if this incident caused a problem with you and Danny today, although I still think he's a jerk."

Carly nodded, "Again, I'm sure Danny and I will work it out."

The three continued to their lockers in silence. When they reached Carly's locker, Sam and Freddie asked Carly if she was going to be all right.

"Guys," Carly said frantically, "you act like I'm so frail, that I can't take a little fight with my boyfriend. Danny and I will talk it out tonight. We'll be fine, okay?"

"If you say so," Sam answered, and Freddie just nodded. "See you in science." Sam called to Carly, as she and Freddie headed to his locker.

Sam had P.E. next, while Freddie had English next. They stopped at his locker so he could get his English stuff. "Sam," Freddie said as he was getting his homework out of his locker, "I hope I never act like that Danny."

"I'd kill you Freddork," she answered tensely, "if you become anything like that loser."

"I don't know if I could have taken him out this morning," Freddie shrugged, "but I sure would have liked to deck him for what he was saying about you. I only held back because you asked me to."

Sam smirked, "Well, what are you going to a gym for, if you're not getting confident enough to defend yourself or your girl?"

Freddie turned pale, "Sam, I thought you…"

She reached over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm just kidding," she smiled, "I'm glad to see that I'm bringing out some courage in you, boy." She took his hand as Freddie had got his English homework, and shut the locker door.

They began walking to his class, when Sam continued, "Anyway, I have been use to defending myself for as long as I can remember. I will always appreciate you standing up for me, but I'll let you know when I want my big man to step in."

Freddie grinned, and he reached around with his free arm and wrapped it around Sam's waist. They continued to walk like that to the classroom.

"You've made me a better person," Freddie said finally as they reached the door to his class, "you've given me the strength to have confidence in the things that I do. Because of you, I will never be like Carly's guy."

Sam beamed with pride. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and laid a big wet one on her man's lips. "I'm a better person when I'm with you," she said proudly, "and I know you will always treat me with respect…or else."

Freddie smiled and kissed her one last time before he went into the classroom. "See you in an hour," he smirked.

"Yep!" Sam replied back as she sprinted for the gymnasium.

XxXxXxXxXx

Carly continued to have that sad look on her face when Freddie and Sam walked into science class together. Her friends walked over to their seat, and sat down discussing their project assignment.

Carly sighed. She hadn't seen her boyfriend since lunch as it appeared to her that he was trying to avoid her the rest of the day. She was glad her day at school was over soon, and she could go home and crash. She was a little tired still from the weekend, and with the day's events with her boyfriend; she just wanted to go to her home, to lie down on the couch, and take a nap.

Suddenly, as she was watching her friends prepare for class, she groaned. Today was the day that all of them would be given frogs to dissect. The thought of dissecting something made her feel sick. What made matters worse, is that her lab partner was Gibby. He acted like he was excited to do this, and couldn't wait to get started.

She put her head down on the table and waited patiently for the bell to ring. She was hoping that her stomach wouldn't turn as she had to do this project today.

"Carly," hissed a voice from behind Carly. She looked behind her, to see her friends looking at her with concern. Sam continued, "are you gonna make it?"

Carly weakly nodded, and tried to smile faintly. She looked down to the diagram of the frog that her friends had drawn up. She twisted her face and felt sick again, "I really don't want to do this today," she moaned softly.

"Carls, maybe you should call Spencer to come get you," Sam said concerned. Freddie nodded, "We can always have Gibby work with us on his frog if Mr. Skinner lets us."

Carly looked down to her cell phone for a second; then got up from the desk to talk with Mr. Skinner. After a minute up front, she returned to her seat with her cell phone in her hand, "I'm heading home. I'll see you guys tomorrow," Carly said as she gathered her books in one hand, and dialed for Spencer in the other.

"I'll call you later," Sam replied and raised her hand in a wave. Freddie nodded back; then hollered for Gibby to work with him and Sam.

Carly left the classroom just as the bell was ringing to begin sixth period. She went to her locker, and filled her school bag with her homework. She walked down the main hallway to the front doors, and exited the school. She walked to the edge of the sidewalk to wait for Spencer.

The cold December air was sending chills down her, and she couldn't wait for her brother to show up. Her stomach was settling a little, but she still wanted to get home and lie down.

Finally, Spencer pulled up to the school, and Carly walked up to the door and opened the passenger side door, "Thanks for getting me, Spence," she said softly.

"No prob little sis," Spencer replied as he waited for her to get settled in the car before he drove off, "what do you think you are coming down with?"

Hot tears were beginning to form on Carly's eyelids, "A broken heart," she moaned as she sobbed.

He hadn't pulled out yet, so he took his seatbelt off and reached across the seat and embraced his little sister, "I'm sorry," he replied softly.

She hugged her brother back, and wiped her tears onto his jacket. She sat back up straight and told Spencer, "I just want to go home."

"You bet, kiddo," Spencer replied as he replaced his seatbelt, and they drove home in silence.

**Author's Note: This was a hard chapter for Carly. I've tried hard not to make Carly look TOO weak, but I think it's more of the shock of what's happened today that's made Carly feel so bad. We know she's a very strong individual. She's not going to let one little fight with her boyfriend get her down forever. Carly is blessed with good friends though. Even though Danny had a right to be mad, maybe I still should have had Freddie get a shot in on Danny, huh?**


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: The events in this chapter is the big reason why I rated this a T. This is the longest chapter to date, and a big one in the Seddie relationship. I'm aware that this is still only their second full day as a couple. I hope you like the dialogue at the end, I felt it was important. – kwags74**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to iCarly. But if the network ever approves the spinoff, which is entitled iSeddie, I'm being hired to be 3****rd**** Assistant Water Boy. Woo-Hoo!**

Chapter 23

The school day finally came to a close, and Freddie and Sam got their book bags together and set out for Sam's place.

It wasn't all that much warmer outside walking home, as it was when the two ditched history class to go to the park earlier that morning. It had been an overcast day, but it hadn't rained.

The two really didn't have a lot to talk about, so they walked to Sam's house rather quietly. They didn't have very much homework to go through, so they chatted a little about hanging out after the study session.

They reached Sam's house, and to their surprise, Sam's mom was actually there. "Hey mom," Sam said somewhat startled, "I'm surprised to see you home this early."

"Well," her mom answered, "I do have to pay bills and get groceries some time." Her mom went into the kitchen and started getting things for dinner. "I'm having my boyfriend Maxwell coming over for dinner tonight, so I'll be busy in here."

"Okay," Sam answered in a tone that said 'like I really care'. She and Freddie went into the dining room, and took off their jackets. They got their English and health homework out, and began working together on the assignment.

As they began working on the health homework, Freddie stole glances of Sam's mother cooking. He looked to Sam and asked, "Have you told your mom about us yet?"

Sam gave Freddie an annoyed look, "Are you kidding?" She said back, "Mom doesn't even realize you're here right now. She didn't even say anything about you." She looked into the kitchen at her mom going about her business. Sam shook her head, turned back to Freddie and continued, "I've hardly seen her since you and I got together the other night. She's too into her 'boyfriends' to give a darn about my personal life." Sam turned away, and began working on the homework.

Just then, the house phone rang, and Ms. Puckett went to pick it up. Sam, quick as a cat, got up from her chair and stood by the kitchen doorway to eavesdrop on her mother.

After a few minutes, Sam returned to the dining room table in a foul mood. Her mother appeared in the kitchen doorway, "Yes Samantha, you heard it correctly," Ms. Puckett grinned at her sneaky daughter, "As soon as this food is ready, I'm heading out with Maxwell. But don't worry, I'll leave you a big bowl for you, so you can eat." She was about to go back into the kitchen when she acknowledged Freddie sitting next to Sam. "Is he staying for dinner?" She asked unenthusiastically.

"No ma'am…" Freddie had begun politely.

"Yes!" Sam interrupted, giving Freddie a look before turning back to her mother, "he is staying for dinner. Why can't you stay?"

"Well," Ms. Puckett answered, "Maxwell and I would like some alone time together at his place."

"And I'm too much of a bother to have around; so that's why you'd rather not eat here?" Sam snarled.

"Honey," Ms. Puckett tried to say sweetly, "Maxwell might be the one, and I'd like to find out for sure with a little one-on-one time."

"Yeah, you've been saying this to me fifteen or twenty times now with every other boyfriend you've brought home," Sam continued to argue.

Ms. Puckett shook her head, "Whatever," she said disgustedly before going back into the kitchen.

Sam got up, and in a huff, went into the living room and plopped down on the couch.

Freddie very cautiously followed her into the living room, and sat next to her on the couch. He sat there for a couple of minutes unsure of what to say. Sam was just sitting there staring off into space. Finally, Freddie spoke, "Is there anything I can get you Sam?" He asked softly.

Sam continued to stare ahead. She heard his question, and just shook her head.

Freddie thought a moment, "I might sound like a dork asking you this," he said plainly, "but, are you okay?"

Sam finally turned to face her boyfriend. She had calmed a bit, but she was still full of anger, "Freddie, anytime I'm in this house, I'm never okay," she said firmly, "and yeah, you do sound like a dork."

Freddie tried to grin, but he knew that Sam was probably not in the mood to joke, so he frowned again. To his surprise though, he saw Sam smirk a bit. He held out his hand for her to take.

Sam stared at his hand for a bit before she took it. She moved closer to him, and put her head on his shoulder. Freddie wrapped his arm around her.

They heard the main closet door shut, and they both got up to see what was going on. Ms. Puckett had grabbed her jacket and she was holding a big casserole dish.

"Maxwell is here," she said to them, "Your meal is sitting in the kitchen. I'm outta here." With that said, Ms. Puckett went out the front door and to the car of her waiting boyfriend.

Sam headed for the kitchen, "C'mon Fredward," she called to him, "let's eat."

Incredibly enough, Ms. Puckett had left two bowls of her ham and cheese casserole sitting on the stove. Sam grabbed both bowls, and walked over to the table. Freddie went to the fridge and got a couple of sodas; then went to the cupboard to get a couple of cups.

They both sat down to eat. It was still rather early to eat. The clock only read 4:30, but the two teens were hungry for a warm meal.

While Freddie was busy chowing the food down, Sam was surprisingly eating slower. Her mind was racing.

_Off goes my mother again to spend the night at a man's house,_ she thought intensely as she tried to eat. _My mom doesn't fool me; I know what she and her boyfriends really do_. Sam really didn't want to picture her mother that way, but it was hard sometimes not to. _Yet,_ her thoughts continued, _she sure can keep the guy around for a while. She seems to think that's what love is, and that's why she doesn't want me around when she's with her man._

Sam glanced over at Freddie. He was quietly eating his food and being calm. _I wonder if I'm going to have to put out for Freddie to stay with me. I know what we talked about yesterday, but I'm curious if he meant it._ Her mind continued to race, _most guys usually want to do it, and I'd be a little surprised if Freddie isn't the same way. He says he loves me, and I have to think that means we should move forward in our relationship. I don't want him to leave me._

Sam barely felt like eating anymore. She got up from the table, and walked into the living room and sat on the couch.

Freddie hadn't noticed that Sam wasn't eating, because he's use to Sam being done before him all the time. He got up to put his empty dish in the sink. He walked by Sam's dish, and noticed it was barely touched. He walked into the living room and said to Sam, "Are you feeling all right? You hardly ate any of your food."

"I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought," she answered softly. She patted the spot on the couch next to her; beckoning for him to come and sit next to her.

"Oh, okay," Freddie said surprised, wrinkling his brow as he sat down next to Sam.

Sam was very nervous. She couldn't believe in her mind was she was about to do. She grabbed his hand gently; then bent over and kissed him softly on the lips.

Freddie was a little worried about the way Sam was being when she sat next to him, but when her lips touched his, be ignored his gut feeling, and kissed her back.

They continued to kiss one another, and it was slowly intensifying. Their mouths opened and tongue action began. They were really feeling passion now. Sam moved from her seat on the couch to sitting on top of Freddie's legs facing him.

Sam released her lips from Freddie's mouth and moved them to his neck. Freddie breathed heavily with his eyes closed; then he moved his lips down to Sam's neck. She closed her eyes, and she too was breathing very heavily. She shifted her head around to catch Freddie's lips with hers.

The kissing continued to arouse them. Sam pushed Freddie onto the couch to where his head lay near the arm rest. She quickly hopped off, and tossed his legs to the other side of the couch, so that he was completely lying down. Then she, just as quickly, climbed on top of him.

Freddie had never felt this way before; it was getting to be a little overwhelming. "Sam," he tried to call, but his lips were full of hers again as she laid on top of him.

Sam was busy with her hands. She began to reach up into Freddie's shirt to touch his chest.

"Sam," Freddie tried to call again while he was feeling Sam touching his chest through his shirt. He felt that things were beginning to get a bit out of control.

Sam was methodically rubbing his chest with her hands. This continued to arouse her. Her breathing began to turn to panting as she continued to kiss Freddie. She couldn't hear Freddie calling to her. She finally just grabbed Freddie's shirt and was about to try to take it off.

"Sam!" Freddie yelled as he pulled away from his girlfriend. His jerking action forced him to fall onto the floor. He stood up off the floor a little disturbed, "What are you doing, Sam?"

Sam was so shocked by the way Freddie reacted, she felt like she wanted to cry. She bolted from the couch embarassed, and ran into the kitchen ashamed of what she did. "I'm sorry," she cried as she disappeared through the kitchen.

"Sam…wait," Freddie called as he tried to catch up with her. She wasn't in the kitchen, so he went into the dining room and found she wasn't there either. He walked through the house until he came to her bedroom, and saw it was locked.

Freddie stood at her locked door and calmed down. He saw how upset she was, and he wanted to give Sam time to take a breather, and collect her thoughts. He needed a few minutes himself to reflect on what just happened.

After about five minutes, he softly tapped on Sam's bedroom door, "Hey," he said just loud enough for her to hear him through the door, "what just happened back there?"

He didn't get a response. He tried to apologize, "Sam, I'm sorry I overreacted or scared you."

Still no response. Freddie wasn't sure how he would get Sam out of her room. "I'm not sure what to say, except that I love you, and I hope we can talk." Freddie left her doorway and walked back into the dining room.

He sat at the table and began reviewing the history homework that he was supposed to have turned in this morning had he and Sam not cut class. He was sitting so quietly, that he barely heard Sam walk into the room.

Her eyes were puffy red from crying. She looked like she was going to be sick. She stood there looking a little lifeless as though a breeze could knock her over right now.

Freddie gazed at her, and slowly stood up from his chair. He saw that she was looking down like she was ashamed of herself for what happened. He spoke softly, "What almost happened on the couch?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" She answered upsettingly.

Freddie cocked his head slightly, "Were you trying to seduce me?" He asked gently.

"Duh," she answered harshly; then she mumbled, "I must have been stupid to think that any guy would ever want me."

"Sam," Freddie nearly cried out, "that's not true. I want you. I just thought that we agreed yesterday to take it slowly is all."

"Never mind Freddie," she said softly, "just forget about it."

"I just can't believe you thought that we were going to have sex or something." He said simply.

"I said don't worry about it," Sam said raising her tone. She still refused to look him in the eye.

"Wait," he cried taking a step towards her. She backed up a step; so Freddie paused where he was, "it's not so much that I didn't want to, or anything. It's just that I got scared, and I didn't understand why you wanted to do this."

Sam paused for a moment. She really didn't want to tell him why she came on to him, but she saw that Freddie was trying to explain his actions; so she thought she owed it to him to tell him what she was feeling. "I guess I just thought that all guys wanted to," she said finally.

"Well, I'm not all guys," Freddie replied gently, "heck; after all, sometimes you barely even refer to me as a guy."

Sam normally would've smiled at this, but the way she was feeling she only slightly grinned for a second.

"Sam, I do want to," he continued taking another step towards her, "but I just want our first time to be something special, not something we feel we have to do."

Sam didn't back off this time when Freddie moved forward. The hurt she was feeling inside from being rejected was slowly easing. She nodded at him.

"What made you think we had to do this now?" He asked patiently. Sam only shrugged.

He thought about the last couple of days. There was nothing he could think of that would suggest Sam's behavior. She had really been happy the entire time. The only time she seemed to get upset was when…

"Does this have to do with your mom and her always going out with her boyfriends?" He asked.

Again, Sam just shrugged. Freddie saw her body language though, and realized that he hit a chord with her. He took another step towards her. Now he was standing in front of her. She was still facing downward.

"Sex isn't love," he said to her, "love, in my mind, is wanting to spend every moment with the person I love. We've known each other for such a long time now. I'm sorry it took me so long for me to realize the feelings I had for you. I had the silly notion that I thought Carly was the one I loved, but I realized the concern and compassion you had over me as our friendship grew showed me what true love was."

Freddie put his hands out in front of him hoping that Sam would take them. Even though he couldn't see her face, he knew she was crying again because he saw tears fall on the floor from her eyes.

"When I got over my crush for Carly," he continued, "and our friendship blossomed, it really got me thinking about what it was that I wanted in a woman. I wanted some girl to have fun with; some girl to challenge me and make me want to be my best. I really wanted some girl who would give me the time of day to really want to be with me."

Sam finally raised her head to face him. The tears were continuing to fall softly. He reached over to take her hands, and held them in his; massaging her hands gently. Freddie was also getting emotional as he was speaking, and his eyes were getting red as well.

"Sam, you're the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing I think about before I sleep," he concluded, "what I feel in my heart for you right now, sex will never make better."

Sam wanted to bawl. Her heart was pounding so hard; she thought it would leap out. "You really mean that don't you, Freddie?"

"Duh," he smirked softly. He smiled brightly at her. She giggled a little, before she threw herself on Freddie in an embrace.

Freddie held his woman tightly. He had tears flowing too, as they gently fell down the back of her shirt. Sam was sobbing in his chest. She was beginning to understand now what love was, and she knew she would be happier than her mother would ever be. Sam also understood now how much Freddie had been right. He wasn't like other guys, he was a gentleman. How lucky was she?

They held each other for a long time. They didn't want to be anywhere else; they were content. They were going to be just fine.

An alarm went off on Freddie's phone. They broke their hug as Freddie reached over to shut it off.

"Do you have to go?" Sam moaned as she grabbed Freddie's hand and began to swing it.

"Soon," he replied as he walked with Sam back into the living room. They sat back down on the couch.

"Sam," he said softly to her as they got seated, "another reason I didn't want to do it earlier was because I'm ashamed of my body."

Sam laughed, "What are you talking about?"

"I guess I wanted to look more like those guys in those magazines," he smiled. Then they both began to laugh.

"Oh, Freddie," she giggled, "only my dork would think about something like that." She messed with his hair.

He reached down and tickled under her armpit. She squealed. "This is why I go to the gym," he smiled as he continued to try to tickle her, "by the time I'm eighteen, I want to have a six pack…"

"You mean down here," she giggled as she grabbed at his abdomen to tickle. He squirmed in his seat laughing. He grabbed for her hands. They wrestled around for a second until they moved away from each other's advances. They were both sitting as far away from each other on the couch as possible. They were both grinning at each other.

"I guess I would like to be a little more developed too," Sam said self-consciously.

"Oh, yeah," Freddie smirked, nodding at her, "senior prom will probably be when you and I will be fully developed. It's a date."

"Yes," she thought loudly, "and who will be the guy that'll take me to the prom?" She teased.

Freddie smirked back, "It'll have to be a tech nerd, I'm sure."

Sam nodded. She scratched her chin, "You're right…I wonder if Jeremy will want to go with me?" She wondered with a big smirk on her face.

"He'll be busy…" Freddie replied back grinning. He had a twinkle in his eye as he prowled his way across the couch to where his girl was sitting, "…and I'll be busy with one Sam Puckett!"

He pounced on her and locked his lips with hers. She was giggling the whole time as she laughed at his goofiness. He jumped up suddenly, and said, "Okay my dear lady, it is time for me to depart!"

Sam rolled her eyes at him, and got off the couch. They walked into the dining room as Freddie got his book bag together. Sam handed him his jacket, and they walked together to the front door.

"So, we're cool right?" Freddie said softly as he was about ready to open the door.

"Yeah, we're cool," Sam replied as she stood beside him at the door.

Freddie took Sam's right hand with his left, "I meant everything I said," he said gently, "I love what we have right now. I wouldn't want to lose that for anything. I certainly don't ever want to lose you. I'd be lost without you now, Sam."

Sam brought Freddie's hand to her lips and kissed it. She brought it back down, "I don't want to lose you either Freddie. I guess I just get a warped sense of what I think love is from my mom. I know now that you will love for who I am, and not for what I do."

Freddie smiled. He opened the door and looked out into the night. He turned back to face Sam, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Call me later before you go to bed," she replied shivering a little as the cold air was seeping in from outside.

He bent down and softly kissed her lips. She grabbed his neck to deepen the kiss. He finally released her and began to walk out, "I love you Sam," he smiled.

"Good night Freddie," she smiled back, "I love you too."

**Author' Note: I hope this chapter wasn't too much. They are making great strides in their first few days as a couple to really understand one another.**

**Now I propose a challenge to you the viewer for the first time. I got a lot of reviews about the Carly/Danny relationship yesterday. I don't discuss the relationship much until the end of the story. I want your thoughts as to rather I should keep them together, or have them break up. It appears either way that I'm going to have to work on the final chapter a little anyway, but I want your comments on what I should do. Please review!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: Thoughts are still in italics; Hand written notes are in bold print; and in this chapter I have Freddie and Sam sending text messages. What they type on their phones is in bold print, and after each statement, I put what it is they are seeing in brackets. – kwags74**

Chapter 24

"Mom," Freddie said to his mother on the phone, "I have detention tonight, so I'll be home about an hour late."

It was the end of first period the next day. He and Sam were told during history class that they were receiving detention for ditching class the day before.

He was standing alone at his locker. Sam was at her locker getting her algebra stuff, and was going to meet Freddie at his locker so they could walk to algebra together.

"I got it because I missed history class yesterday," Freddie said to his mom.

"How could you miss class?" His mother had asked.

"There was a confrontation between Sam and I, and with Carly's boyfriend," he said, "and it lasted past the bell."

"That's no excuse Fredward. I expect you home immediately after your detention, and I don't want anyone over, or you going anywhere tonight. Come straight home young man; Understand?" His mom barked at him.

Freddie sighed angrily. He saw Sam approaching him with her algebra homework. "But mom," he whined, "we need to rehearse iCarly tonight…"

"I don't care what tonight is. Be home after detention. In fact, I will be at the school at 4:00 sharp. I expect you to find me when you get out." His mother interrupted, and spoke to him sternly.

"Fine," he growled, as he clicked his phone shut. He reached into his locker and grabbed his stuff, and he and Sam walked to class.

"Your mom is upset I see," Sam said raising her eyebrow as they walked to the classroom.

"She's not letting me do anything for iCarly, or letting me have anyone over tonight," he complained. He gazed at Sam, "I guess we'll have to study another night," he groaned.

Sam shrugged, "No biggie," she said simply, "I just hate that I won't be able to talk to you tonight."

"Yeah, me too," Freddie sighed. They entered the classroom and made their way to their seats. "What did you and Carly talk about before history class started?" He asked curiously.

"I just asked her if Danny had tried to call her last night," she answered as she took her seat. They pushed their desks together. They both got their homework out and started to look at each other's work.

"And?" Freddie asked without looking up from their papers.

"Carly said that Danny did call to apologize for the way he reacted yesterday, but he still insisted that he was right about the 'me and David' thing. He wouldn't apologize for that." She replied as she sat up and stretched a bit, "Carly then told me that she apologized to him as well. She said that she's going to sit down with Danny again today to make sure they have a better understanding of one another, but she said she isn't sure if this'll make everything okay or not though."

Freddie sat up. "I'm sure they'll be fine." The bell rang just then, and the two pushed their desks back to the position that they were supposed to be.

They started their lesson. Freddie had a hard time concentrating because of the fact that his mom is grounding him for the evening. _This will be a much different evening than last night,_ he thought. He remembered how close he and Sam had got to doing something that they might have regretted. He began to feel guilty about not letting his mother know that he and Sam often studied at her place unsupervised. If his mother ever found this out without him telling her, his mom might forbid him from seeing Sam_. I can't let that happen, _he thought,_ I better tell mom the truth. If I tell her now before she finds out another way, we can probably work this thing through._

He knew that he needed Sam's help with this. He had the idea that Sam probably would freak if he told their mom about them studying alone, but he wanted to reassure her that it'll be better if his mom knows.

Freddie reached into his notebook for a piece of paper. Mr. Perry had just given the class the assignment, and he gave the class time before next period to get started on it. Freddie scribbled a note to Sam. **I think when I get home tonight; I'm going to tell my mom about us studying at your place alone during certain times.** He passed the note to Sam.

Sam grabbed the note, and while she was reading it, she turned white. She quickly and angrily scribbled back; then she nearly threw the note back to Freddie.

Freddie caught the note. He looked up to see if the teacher had seen anything. He turned back to read the letter. **Are you out of your mind, dork? Your mom will freak if she knew that we were studying together alone, especially since you and I are dating now. **

Freddie began to write back. **My mom will appreciate the honesty. I want you to be with me when I tell her tomorrow night. I promise that I won't let her try to break us apart.** He slid the note back to her.

Sam glared at him. She didn't want to take it at first, but she finally snatched it off his desk. She sighed as she read. She sat there a few moments tapping her fingers on the desk lightly. She wrote back to Freddie.

**Freddie, I'm scared of what your mom might do if she were to find out I was being neglected at home. She might call Child Services or something. I'm not going to end up at a shelter or foster home, do you hear me?** Sam angrily handed the note back to him.

Freddie snatched the note. He looked upset as he read what Sam wrote. When he was waiting for Sam to write, he was doing the homework that was assigned. Sam was likewise working on algebra when not replying to Freddie.

Freddie sat there for a few minutes thinking. He hadn't thought about the scenario that Sam described about her mom getting in trouble for not being around. Sam was stealing glances at him to see if he was going to respond.

Finally, he wrote a response. **We don't have to tell my mom that your mom is never home, because that's really not true. She is home sometimes. We just need to say that your mom has been out at times when we've been there studying. I don't want anything that you're describing happen to you either. I'm just trying to cover my bases with her; you know how she gets.**

Sam took the paper and began reading. She didn't look as tense when she finished as she had the previous notes. She wrote quickly. **Before we talk to your mom tomorrow night, we need to agree on what we're going to say. We need to get our story straight.**

Freddie felt better that she wanted to do this with him. He wrote six big letters at the bottom of the page and flashed the paper to Sam. The word was: **AGREED**. She grinned slightly and nodded.

They continued to work on their assignment until the bell rang. As they got up and gathered their books, Sam spoke to Freddie, "I'm very serious Fredward," she said firmly, "you and I have to have our stories straight about what happens at my place."

"When we walk home to my place from school tomorrow, you and I will discuss what we are going to do and say," Freddie stated as they began to head out of the classroom and into the hallway.

"Freddie," Sam asked, "you're not going to tell your mom about what almost happened last night, are you?"

Freddie grabbed her hand and held it. "Nothing did happen, and we talked over the situation. As far as I'm concerned, since you and I are beginning to learn more about loving each other the right way, you and I really have nothing to tell," he smirked reassuringly.

Sam smiled back at him, "That's my good man."

They reached Freddie's locker. "Besides," he added, "you and I are going to have things happen in our relationship that only you and I need to learn how to handle. I know that I can depend on my mother to help us with the situations that we won't be able to handle on our own."

Sam nodded as she watched him put his algebra books away, "So this is sorta why you want to tell your mom about us studying alone?"

"Don't get me wrong Sam, I'm nervous about doing this too," Freddie replied as he shut his locker door, "I just feel that if my mom knew that I was going to her about questions dealing with our relationship that she would feel more secure about us being together. She does like you Sam…" He smirked at her as they began to walk together towards her locker, "…but don't forget who loves you."

Sam smiled as she reached over and gave her man a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll see you at lunch," she called as she headed for her locker.

"Yep," he smiled as he headed for the gym, "I'll see you then."

XxXxXxXxXx

The rest of the school day was uneventful. Even detention was boring for Freddie and Sam (although I guess it really isn't supposed to be fun).

Sure enough, Mrs. Benson was parked alongside the curb at the front of the school when Freddie and Sam walked out of the school a few minutes after 4:00. This Tuesday had been overcast for much of the day, but now it had begun sprinkling.

Freddie walked to the passenger door of his mom's car and opened it. "Mom," he said with haste, "I know you're grounding me tonight, but could you at least drop Sam off? It's on the way there."

"Freddie, I can walk," Sam retorted, even though a ride would be nice since she didn't bring an umbrella with her today.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Benson called to Sam, "If it's on the way, I'll take you there…here, I'll unlock the backdoor for you." She pressed a button on her armrest and the backdoor became unlocked.

"Er…thanks," Sam mumbled as she got in behind Freddie. Freddie took his seat. After they shut the doors and got seat belted in; they took off.

Sam was worrying that her mom wasn't going to be home when Mrs. Benson dropped her off. And knowing Mrs. Benson, Sam was afraid she might get drilled a bunch of questions on the subject that she didn't want to answer until her and Freddie talked about it the next evening.

To Sam's surprise, her mother's car was in the driveway when they pulled up. Sam thanked Mrs. Benson, and got out of the car. She hurried out of the rain into her house. Mrs. Benson had waited until Sam was inside before she drove her and Freddie home.

Freddie had let Carly know in sixth period that he wasn't able to do a rehearsal for iCarly tonight because of his detention. Carly sort of freaked when she heard this because they were doing such a big show this week since they didn't air last week because of Thanksgiving. But she understood.

The evening was very boring for Freddie. He not only had to do his homework alone, but his mom had "punishment" chores for him to do. Freddie figured that a lot of this was so his mom could keep an eye on him. Mrs. Benson was afraid he might try to call, text, or IM his friends any chance he could get. So she was on him like hawk.

It wasn't until really late that night after his mom had fallen asleep that he was able to text Sam. He climbed into bed with his phone, and began to text.

**R u stl up**, he texted her. (Are you still up)

He waited patiently for several minutes. He hadn't got a response, so he lay back down. He just got situated when he heard his phone beep. He snatched it and read, **Y, 2nit was boring. Mom wsn't home, just car was here. **(Yes, tonight was boring. Mom wasn't home, just car was here.)

Freddie texted back to her, **U rdy 4 2morrw nite? **(You ready for tomorrow night?)

Sam returned his text, **U sre u want 2 do ths? **(You sure you want to do this?)

Freddie thought a second, then replied, **I dn't lik hidin stuf from my mom. If we tel her, she mite treat us lik adults & we wn't hav 2 wrry bout bein' separated. **(I don't like hiding stuff from my mom. If we tell her, she might treat us like adults and we won't have to worry about being separated.)

It took Sam a minute to read this, but she finally got back with him, **Im putin my trust in u nrd, u r not goin 2 lik it if I gt hurt. **(I'm putting my trust in you nerd, you are not going to like it if I get hurt.)

Freddie smiled, **Id run away frm hom & tak u w/ me b4 I c u get hurt my luv! **(I'd run away from home and take you with me before I see you get hurt my love!)

Sam giggled in her bed, but she was careful not to be too loud. Her mom was home now, and she didn't want to draw attention to her room. Sam began to close, **U r such a DORK! But I luv u so mch! **(You are such a dork! But I love you so much!)

Freddie grinned again, he also began to close, **& I luv u 2 my lttle cretur. C u in the mornin. **(And I love you too my little creature. See you in the morning.)

Sam typed three more characters; then she shut her phone down and went to bed, **K c u **(Okay see you)

XxXxXxXxXx

"You guys are coming by after school so we can rehearse iCarly, right?" Carly asked her friends as she got seated in sixth period science the next day.

Sam and Freddie looked at each other. They had forgotten about needing to rehearse for the show. They were so focused on this conversation they were to have with Freddie's mom that they had forgotten that they had an obligation to anything else in anybody else's life.

"Uh…sure," Sam answered Carly to reassure her. They both sighed. The initial plan for the day was to go over right after school and take care of this, and then they were going to study together. They kind of needed to do homework too. There were a lot of big projects being put on them from both history and English class. They all were given a huge term paper assignment for English that was suppose to take them until the Christmas break to get done. But the paper counted for over 80% of their grade this semester, and it was important that they try to work on it as much as possible.

But they didn't want to blow off their friend again. High School was making it more difficult right now to continue to do iCarly every week. It was easier last year when they were only in the eighth grade to have time every week to do the webcast.

Sam was already feeling guilty for not going over to Carly's last night as it was. She really didn't want to hang around Carly alone right now, because of what Carly was going through with Danny. Sam thought Carly would never shut up about Danny when they were first going out; now that they were having trouble, it was even worse. Danny was having trust issues with his girlfriend after what had happened on Monday. He still couldn't understand why she continued to back her friends. He didn't even want to be around Carly if either Sam or Freddie was with her. He was trying to get past this, but it wasn't an easy thing for him. Carly was having a hard time this week being normal around him. She just couldn't feel relaxed when she was with him. They were still communicating well, but the happiness that they both had felt before just wasn't there right now. Sam had to listen to Carly go on and on about this.

Sam turned back to Freddie, "What are we going to do?" She asked.

Freddie shrugged gently, "It looks like we have a very busy night tonight, don't we?" He sighed.

Sam nodded, "I guess we work on iCarly for a couple of hours; then we go have that talk," she said, her mind racing, "we'll eat, and then we'll study for as long as your mom lets us. I'll go back over to Carly's and spend the night when we're through."

Freddie nodded with agreement, "Okay," he said, "but will it be all right for you to spend the night at Carly's?"

"My mom left me a note saying that she wouldn't be home until very late tonight, and Carly and Spencer usually never have a problem with me spending the night…Watch." Sam turned to Carly.

"Okay to spend the night tonight?" Sam asked giving Carly a smile.

"Sure," Carly smiled back; then turned back to Gibby to discuss their dissection of the frog they were working on.

"See?" Sam smirked to Freddie.

Freddie smirked back, "I don't know how you do it." He laughed softly.

"I'm good," Sam smiled.

**Author's Note: I figured I'd add a little bit more info in about the Carly/Danny story. I still want to know if I should have them together in the end or not. 2 chapters remain. As I send this today, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for your reviews as always.**


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The moment that Sam had dreaded was here.

The school day ended, and the three of them walked back to Bushwell Plaza. They headed up to the iCarly studio to rehearse the two hour special they were going to run on Friday. The three of them were throwing ideas at each other as they were walking home, and while they were in the studio. Needless to say, time sort of flew by.

When they wrapped up the closing scene from the rehearsal for the evening, Freddie glanced at his watch and gasped.

"What?" Sam asked as she was helping Carly reset everything in the room so it would be ready on Friday.

"It's after 6:00 already," Freddie moaned, "We need to get over to my place and do homework." He quickly powered down the equipment.

"We need to eat is what we need to do," Sam insisted, "I'm starving." She began to head down the stairs. "I'll be back later, Carls."

"You guys don't want to stay here for dinner?" Carly asked politely as she followed her friends down the stairs.

"We would," Freddie replied, "but Sam and I have to have a special talk with my mom."

"Oh," Carly said looking a little concerned.

"I'll tell you about it later," Sam said as she and Freddie headed out the door, "See ya,"

"See ya," Carly replied as her friends disappeared.

Freddie opened the door to his apartment, and he and Sam walked into the kitchen.

"It's about time you got here," Mrs. Benson said a little impatiently, "I was about to come across the hall to get you."

"We're sorry," Freddie apologized, "let's eat." He and Sam took a seat at the table while Mrs. Benson brought out a chili and macaroni and cheese casserole to the table.

"Mmmm, that looks good," Sam said, just dying to dig in.

"Well thank you, Sam," Mrs. Benson replied as she laid three plates down, "you and Freddie dig in while I get you guys a glass of milk."

The two teens filled their plates up, and began to eat. Mrs. Benson brought in their drinks; then she sat down and filled her plate up and began to eat. There was no problem with cleaning out the casserole dish as Sam helped herself to seconds and thirds to help leave no leftovers for Freddie's mom.

As the meal was ending, Freddie looked over to Sam to indicate that this would be a good time to start talking about the thing they needed to discuss. Sam nodded to him; so he turned to his mother, "Mom, there's something I need to tell you."

Mrs. Benson had just completed her last bite, and turned to her son, "Yes Fredward, what is it sweetie?"

Sam tried not to smile, but it was hard to; so she looked down. Freddie's cheek flushed, but he continued anyway, "I need you to know that when I went over to study at Sam's the other night, her mom left around 4:30 on personal business, and we were left alone in the apartment for a short time."

Mrs. Benson's eyes went wide, "What exactly are you trying to tell me Freddie?" She asked intensely as she gazed at both teens.

"No mom," Freddie quickly tried to reply before his mother would freak, "I'm just trying to say that I made a bad judgment call in staying at my girlfriend's with just me and her alone in the house. I should have left when Ms. Puckett did…"

"I should say you should have left," Mrs. Benson said in a frantic voice, "especially with you two in such a young relationship and your hormones raging and everything…"

"Mom," he continued, "we understand that, and we realized this and it made us uncomfortable to be there alone…"

"You should have called then," Mrs. Benson interrupted, "if I'd known you needed me there, I would have raced over to get you."

"Mom, I'm glad I can count on you to get me when I need you," Freddie said after he thought a few seconds. He was trying to keep this conversation from getting out of hand, "Sam and I were just studying and I hated to leave her by herself…"

Sam looked at Freddie. She was impressed at how he was handling himself with his overbearing mother. She was more impressed by the way he was making Monday evening look better than what it was.

"That was nice of you to think about the safety and well-being of your girlfriend," Mrs. Benson said calming slightly, "but I could have brought Sam back with us if we needed to." She turned to Sam, "why on earth would your mother leave you and Freddie by yourselves in your home?"

Sam began to turn white. She was hoping she could stay out of this conversation, but now she was on the spot. She gulped, and answered, "I-I'm sorry Mrs. Benson," she replied nervously, "I really thought that my mother wasn't going to be gone that long. I didn't think to send Freddie home…"

"I wasn't thinking mom," Freddie concurred, trying to come to Sam's rescue, "we just treated our homework session as just that. We were concentrating on getting our homework done. It felt weird to have the house so quiet, but we were fully focused on our studies."

Mrs. Benson studied her son. She couldn't believe what she had heard about her son being alone with a girl in a house, especially now that this particular girl was his girlfriend. She did know the girl though, and has known her for a while. It was the only thing giving Mrs. Benson comfort right now, that it was a girl she had grown to admire in recent months. Sam did have a different personality than her son, but Mrs. Benson saw how much they had rubbed off on each other. She honestly didn't want to hurt their relationship on this isolated issue, but she was a mother, and she needed to set some ground rules.

"Sam," Mrs. Benson said calmly, "I need to know if this sort of thing with your mom leaving while you're studying together is ever going to happen again."

Sam was still a little pale. She needed to try to answer as truthfully as she could, but she knew with her mom, anything was possible. "I don't always know what my mother has planned when I get home from school. So I guess it's possible it could happen again," she nearly half gasped.

Mrs. Benson nodded, "Since that's the case," she said firmly, "then I have no choice; I can't have Freddie studying anymore at your place…"

Sam lowered her head, and Freddie closed his eyes sadly, "Mom…" he tried to interrupt.

"…but you will always be welcome to come here every night so you guys can study and hang out…" Mrs. Benson continued.

Sam raised her head; she thought she might cry from happiness. Mrs. Benson was almost basically giving her an open door to spend all the time she wanted with Freddie. Freddie opened his eyes, and sighed in relief.

"…if that's okay with your mother, of course," Mrs. Benson concluded with a small twinkle in her eye, as she looked to Sam.

Sam smiled, "I'm sure it won't be a problem."

"So you're saying she can come by every night of the week, and you wouldn't mind?" Freddie asked making sure he understood his mother correctly.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Mrs. Benson replied, "there is a reason why I'm doing this though, and I need to ask Sam about it."

Sam began to pale a little again. "What is it that you need to know?" She asked nervously.

Mrs. Benson looked at Sam, "What is your overall grade average in school right now?" She asked with a small smile.

Sam wrinkled her face. _This is a weird question, _she thought. _Let's see, I just checked on Monday, and I was just cracking the top 10% of the class,_ "I'm approaching an A- average now," she replied.

Mrs. Benson glowed, "Well, I have to say that I am very proud of what you have achieved. You went from a D average in September to an A- average in less than three months, and I know that even though you did most of it yourself, Freddie was a good influence for you. This is exactly why I want you to continue studying together."

Sam smiled and grabbed her boyfriend's hand, "I couldn't have done it without our little Fredward here."

Freddie gave Sam a look, but then he smirked at her, "even I'm amazed at how far you've come."

Sam gave his hand a hard squeeze, "Gee, thanks," she commented as her eyes lit up when she heard her boyfriend yelp in pain.

"Sam and Freddie," Mrs. Benson intervened, "you two are a great joy to each other, and I wouldn't dream of trying to separate you guys. However, you guys are not yet fifteen and I can't have you guys testing your boundaries unsupervised. I hope you understand why I want you here when you study."

The two lovebirds looked at each other. They looked to Freddie's mom, "we understand," they said nearly simultaneously.

"Great," Mrs. Benson grinned as she got up from the table and began to clear the dishes, "now if I understand correctly, you both have a lot of school work to do."

"Yep," Sam answered as she left the kitchen table and walked into the living room to have a seat on the couch.

"Did you want help clearing off the table?" Freddie asked politely.

"You don't have to tonight," Mrs. Benson said gently, "it's getting late, and you have a lot of work to do, and it looks as if your girlfriend has got a head start on you." She took the dishes to the sink to begin washing them.

Freddie went into the living room to join Sam. He sat down next to her and grabbed his history book. "See," he said softly, "that didn't go so bad, did it?"

"Other than the fact that we can't study at my place anymore, yeah I guess it could have been worse," she answered just as softly.

"At least you can always get a home cooked meal every night when you're here," he lightly smirked.

Sam looked at him and grinned. She hadn't thought of that. "Oh yeah, that's right," she said, "I can definitely live with that." She turned back to her studies.

"Me too," Freddie replied as he bent over to kiss Sam on top of her head. He then also returned to his studies.

**Author's Note: As you can see, Freddie didn't tell his mother everything about what happened that past Monday, but at least he gave his mom a heads up about things that he felt important that his mother should know about. I think this was the best turnout for Sam and Freddie, because now they'll be in a "parental" supervised area and the temptations won't be out there as much. One chapter remains, and it's sort of an epilogue in a way. Thanks to all who've reviewed all month long. – kwags74**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to iCarly. Nor do I have any experience in being a waterboy.**

Chapter 26

"I can't wait to see what you got me for Christmas," Sam smiled excitedly.

Freddie smiled. He had been very eager for Christmas Eve to arrive so that he and Sam could officially have a first holiday together as a couple. And it was the first time they had really given each other gifts since they had started dating nearly 4 weeks ago.

He and Sam had done what his mom requested of them, and that was to study at his place every night after school. Sam actually enjoyed coming over to his place because she was able to get a home cooked meal every night, rather than Sam having to hope and pray that she could find something good to eat at her house. She also enjoyed the fact that she only had to go next door to hang out with Carly and Spencer. And Mrs. Benson always drove Sam back home at the end of the evening, so she didn't have to walk home on these cold December nights.

She and Freddie worked very hard on their term papers that were due before the break, and they actually turned them in a few days ahead of time. Both of them already had their papers graded, and the teacher let them both know what they received on that last day before break. Sam aced her term paper, while Freddie got an A- on his paper. Sam's been bragging about the higher score for a few days now.

Their relationship continued to grow strong. They tried not to get too mushy at school. Sam did have a reputation to protect. She was kinder to people now, but she still got the occasions to give nerds wedgies and lock them in their lockers every now and again. Freddie would only stand by and shake his head while his girlfriend took out her fun. He had to be careful himself at times; he often was the target of Sam's mischief. But he would normally get her back in one way or another. This was all fine with the both of them, as they felt it kept everything in their relationship exciting.

Freddie tried to use what money he had to spoil Sam the best way he could for Christmas. He filled a stocking full of beef jerky and a dozen gift certificates for free smoothies at Groovie Smoothies. His gag gift for her was a portable cooler which held little miniature hams in it that she could have. But the main gift was something he was a little nervous to give her. He kept that gift in his pocket until he was ready to surprise her with it.

"Well," he smiled brightly to Sam, "go ahead and open it while I get your stocking."

She sat down on the Benson's couch and began to tear the wrapping off. Mrs. Benson was in the kitchen preparing a green bean casserole, and baking a blueberry pie for the Christmas dinner they were going to have next door at the Shay's that evening.

Sam looked puzzled at the gift she had just unwrapped, "You got me a cooler?" She asked giving him a weird look.

"Silly," he smirked, "open the cooler."

Sam did so, and her expression brightened, "Wow," she beamed, rummaging through the contents of the cooler, "I should have known. You know my stomach well Fredward."

Freddie returned with her stocking, and handed it to her. The beef jerky was sticking out of the stocking, which cause her to smile. "So you gave me just meat for Christmas?" Sam smirked as she began to look through her stocking.

"And free smoothies!" Freddie grinned as he saw Sam pull the gift certificates out of the stocking. She grinned at him before laying the stocking down.

"Okay," she said as she got up and went into the other room, "it's time for your gift."

Freddie grinned as he waited for Sam to return. He thought about giving Sam the final gift when he had opened his gift.

Sam handed Freddie the package, "I hope you like this," she said as she sat back down on the couch and opened a package of beef jerky, "I'm hoping it's something you don't have already."

"Wow Sam," Freddie said when he took off the wrapping paper. He had received a web camera that operated by remote control so that it could zoom in and out with the touch of a button. It could also shift its image a complete 360 degrees from its frame. What made it cool was its small size, "this must have cost you a lot of money."

"Nah," Sam said smugly, "I paid for it mostly with the money my mom would leave on the counter when she wasn't home. Nothing is too good for my little tech nerd."

Freddie gave her a sour face; then he rose from his chair and decided to get her on the couch.

Sam grinned, "No you don't Freddie," She giggled as she got up from the couch and tried to dodge her boyfriend who was chasing her around the living room. He finally caught her, and had her wrapped up in his arms as he took her down on the floor with both of them laughing.

"Freddie, Sam," hissed Mrs. Benson from the kitchen, "will you settle down please?" She was busy trying to get the dished she used cleaned and put away so they could leave soon.

"Sorry!" They yelled laughing as they sat on the floor leaning on each other. They took some deep breaths as they began to calm down.

"I have one more gift for you Sam," Freddie said nervously as he grabbed a little black box out of his pocket and handed it to Sam.

"What is this?" Sam asked nervously with her eyes wide. She had a pretty good idea was usually comes in boxes such as this one.

"Don't worry," he tried to reassure her as he saw the nervous look on her face, "it's not 'the' ring. But I hope you like it."

Sam opened the box and pulled out a beautiful 14 carat gold ring. It had two stones in the middle of the ring that were shaped like hearts melded together. One stone was a purple color, and the other was clear. "Freddie…" she said, her breath being taken away from her as she gazed at the ring.

"Do you like it Sam?" He smiled softly at her, "it's a promise ring. The two stones are amethyst; which is my birthstone, and diamond; which is yours. I was afraid I wouldn't get this in time for Christmas. I ordered in online a few weeks ago, and I just received it in on Monday."

All Sam could look at was the ring. She had never been given a gift like this before. Sam wasn't fond of wearing jewelry, but she really loved this ring. "Freddie," she said gently, "this must have cost you a fortune. How on earth did you afford to pay for this?"

"The last of the money from the Daka payout went to paying for this ring," he said smiling. Freddie reached across and touched Sam's cheek with his hand, "You are worth every penny."

Sam quickly slid the ring onto her left ring finger; then bent over and kissed Freddie gently on his lips. She wrapped herself around him in a full body embrace with the two of them still sitting on the floor. "I love this ring so much," she sighed happily, "and I love you very, very much."

Freddie held her tight. "I'm so glad you like it," he sighed in relief, "as I said, it is a promise ring; therefore, I promise I will always be with you forever." Freddie and Sam released their embrace and began to get up off the floor.

Mrs. Benson came out of the kitchen, "Are you two ready to go next door?" She asked.

"Ready when you are, mom," Freddie replied.

"Fredward dear, would you help me by taking the food over?" Mrs. Benson asked.

"Hey," Sam intervened, "I can help carry the food over." Sam followed Mrs. Benson back into the kitchen.

"Sam," Freddie smirked, "my mom needs someone to carry the food, not eat it."

Sam gave Freddie a look. "You're lucky it's Christmas," she snapped. Sam put her hand in the whipped cream that was lying on the kitchen counter, and smeared Freddie's nose with it.

"Ugh, Sam!" He hollered as he went to the bathroom to wipe his face off.

Sam smiled as she followed his mom out the apartment door and walked to the Shay's front door. "Hurry up, Fredro!" She yelled back at him still grinning.

XxXxXxXxXx

"I'll get the door," Carly hollered to her brother and his new girlfriend Amanda, as she was heading downstairs to respond to the doorbell ringing, "It's probably the Benson's and Sam."

"Thank you!" Spencer hollered back, as he and Amanda were dashing around the kitchen trying to get dinner prepared.

Carly opened the door, "Hey," she smiled as Sam zoomed by with the food, "Merry Christmas…" she said faintly as her friend was already in the kitchen. She looked back at Mrs. Benson, "Here, let me help you with some of those gifts," she said as she grabbed a few gifts out of the arms of Mrs. Benson.

"Thank you, dear," Mrs. Benson replied as she followed Carly to the tree to put down the gifts.

After setting down the casserole dish and pie, Sam went over to the tree to join her friend. "Merry Christmas to you too, cupcake," she smiled as she reached over to give her best friend a hug.

"Thank you," Carly smiled as she hugged Sam back. Mrs. Benson smiled at the two girls; then she walked into the kitchen to see if Spencer and Amanda needed help getting dinner ready.

Carly was comforted by a hug right now. December had not been a very good month for her. They had to cancel two iCarly episodes that month. One was due to her coming down with strep throat a few weeks ago which caused her to miss three days from school. She was in no shape to do the show. The other cancellation was this past Friday, which was the last day of school before the holiday. That Friday was just a horrible day altogether for her. First, her alarm hadn't gone off, and she was late to school. Second, she and Danny finally ended their relationship. It had really gone sour most of the month anyway. Finally, that evening, she went with Spencer and Amanda to do some Christmas shopping at the mall. When they had finished, they came outside to see traffic gridlocked due to a four car pileup at the entrance to the mall. It took so long for Spencer to get them home, that by the time they reached Bushwell Plaza, it was nearly bedtime. Sam and Freddie had covered for her by trying to do a show which updated Carly's whereabouts on the road, but in the end they signed off early when they realized it would be late when Carly would come home.

Carly released her hug from Sam and started to look around, "Where's Freddie?" She frowned.

Sam suddenly started looking around as well, "He still doesn't have that whipped cream cleaned of him yet?" She grumbled, "I guess I better go get him."

"Whipped cream?" Carly giggled.

"I'll tell you later," Sam smirked.

"I don't think you have to explain," Carly continued to laugh as she shook her head at her friend.

Sam smiled as she began to run back across the hall to retrieve her boyfriend.

Sam walked across the hallway back to the Benson's apartment. The door was still sitting wide open from when she and Mrs. Benson left earlier carrying the food and gifts. She walked into the front room of the apartment, "Yo, Freddo," she called as she began to walk towards the bathroom, which where she had seen Freddie take off to earlier to clean up his face.

There was no answer from there, so she looked for him in his room. After not finding him in there, she walked towards the kitchen. "Freddie," she said slightly annoyed, "where are you hiding…?"

"Bah!" Freddie yelled from behind the kitchen door, as he leaped out from behind it.

Sam squealed, "Darn you Freddie!" She yelled tensely, although she began to smirk a bit. "What are you…whoa," she began to ask before Freddie swept her off her feet with his arms.

Freddie had Sam in his arms like he was about to carry her under the threshold. He smiled at her, while she blushed at him and giggled. They walked back out of his apartment, and Sam shut the door on the way through. She reached down and opened the door to the Shay's.

"Ho, ho, ho," Freddie sang as he came into the apartment, "look what I found." Sam was still blushing in his arms. She wasn't used to this kind of attention. Mrs. Benson rolled her eyes at Freddie, Carly just smiled, and Spencer and Amanda just laughed.

"Put her down Fredward," Mrs. Benson said sternly, "you'll mess up your back."

Freddie rolled his eyes, and answered, "Yes, mother." He took Sam over to the couch, and set her down on the cushions. Freddie sat down on the couch next to her.

Carly walked over to the couch and sat down next to Sam, "It's great to see you guys are in the Christmas spirit," she mused.

"Yeah," Sam smiled, "this has definitely been one of the best holidays of my life." She stretched back on the couch and relaxed. Freddie put his arm around her shoulder.

"Me too," Freddie grinned, "I'm sorry that this isn't one of your better holidays though, Carly," he frowned.

"Guys," she grinned, "I'm here with my two best friends and my brother and his new girlfriend, I couldn't ask for anything better."

_Except_, Carly thought, _a boyfriend too_. Carly, indeed, was feeling a little alone this holiday season. Mrs. Benson was the only one besides her that didn't have someone to share the holiday with. Carly was happy for her friends, and she was very happy for Spencer. Spencer had met Amanda while he was at a gallery function to display his ornament sculpture. They took to each other very well, and now have been seeing each other nonstop for the last two weeks. Carly hasn't seen Spencer this happy with a girlfriend for as long as she can remember.

"How are things going for Spencer and Amanda, anyway?" Sam inquired.

"Very well," Carly nodded as she turned to look at them in the kitchen busy getting the final preparations for the meal, "Amanda has been very cool with Spencer and I's living situation, and I've grown to like her very much. She makes Spencer very happy." She turned back around to face her friends.

"We want you to be happy too," Freddie stated, "has Danny even tried to call you?"

Carly shook her head, "He wanted to spend another holiday in San Francisco with his sister. It's just as well anyway," she frowned, "I knew the end for us was coming soon anyway."

"Why?" Freddie asked with concern.

"Ever since he got back from his last trip from San Francisco at Thanksgiving, he hasn't been the same guy. Attacking you Sam, the way he did, on the first day back to school, was a sign that something either happened on that holiday break, or he wasn't the guy I thought he was." Carly said grimly.

"I choose to think that it was the latter," Sam admitted, annoyed, "you know that I never cared for him from the beginning."

As Carly shook her head in agreement, the adults walked into the living room and announced that dinner was ready. The six of them all gathered at the kitchen table to say grace; then they dug in to the food. Spencer, Amanda, and Mrs. Benson sat at the kitchen table to eat their dinner, while the three teenagers ate on the couch in the living room.

As they were eating, the house phone rang, and Spencer went to pick it up. It was Carly and Spencer's granddad calling from Yakima. Spencer was on the phone for a little while; then gave Carly the phone for a few moments. She returned the phone to Spencer, and sat back down to finish her dinner.

"How's your granddad doing in Yakima?" Sam asked as she was completing her meal.

"Great," Carly answered as she grabbed her plate to continue eating, "he said they've almost got a foot of snow in town, but he's doing just fine." She took a bite of the green bean casserole; then turned back to Sam, "I couldn't help notice that you jumped when the phone rang," Carly said, grinning.

"Yeah," Sam replied, as she finished her last bite of her meal, "I was afraid that my mom was calling to ruin another holiday for me." Sam set her plate down on the coffee table, and sat back and stretched out on the couch.

"I thought you told me that your mom was going to spend the whole day with her new boyfriend today, and spend time with you tomorrow?" Freddie asked hastily.

"You know my mom," Sam answered sarcastically, "if there's any way she can ruin me having a good time; she'll find a way to do it."

Sam got up from the couch and took her empty plate in the kitchen. She grabbed some dessert, and walked back into the living room, "I think I'm going to eat this in the studio," she declared, "anyone going to join me?"

"Well, of course, sweet thang," Freddie said humorously, as he took his plate into the kitchen as well.

"Such a dork," Sam said shaking her head, "Carls?"

"I'll be up after awhile," Carly answered as she was trying to hurry and finish her meal, "I told Spencer I'd help him with the dishes." She looked at her friend, "I suppose you wouldn't want to help, would you?"

Sam gave Carly a face that Carly understood very well when it came do asking Sam to work. "Not really," she said kindly.

Carly shook her head, "That's okay," she sighed, "I'll meet you and Freddie upstairs later." She watched as Freddie came back into the living room with a plate of pie. He and Sam went up the stairs to the studio.

_Sam is so lucky_; Carly thought to herself, _what on earth was I thinking all this time, when I kept telling Freddie that all I wanted to be was friends. I guess I was just tired of him being so pushy about wanting to be with me. Now look at him, he's with my best friend and they are in love with one another. That could've been me if I wouldn't have rejected him. Freddie is such a sweet guy, and has a very good heart. I would've been lucky to have had him as a boyfriend. I'm glad Sam is happy, but…_

Carly's thoughts were interrupted by her brother calling out to her from the kitchen.

"I'll be right there to help," Carly sighed as she got up from the couch. She took her dish into the kitchen and placed it in the sink.

"You ready to clean up?" Spencer asked as he got the dish detergent bottle out of the cupboard.

"Sure," she smiled; as she let her thoughts continue. She had just grabbed a dish towel so she could help Spencer dry the dishes when she saw Freddie reenter the kitchen. Carly smiled at him.

"I just came back down for a few sodas," he said as he opened the door to the fridge.

Carly stared at Freddie. She wanted to tell him what was on her mind. "Hey Freddie," she said softly, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

Freddie looked at Carly as he grabbed two soda cans out of the fridge, "Yeah, sure," he replied politely.

Carly set her dish towel down and had Freddie follow her into the living room. "I'll be back in a second Spence," she called to her brother.

"Go ahead and talk to your friend," Amanda called to her, "I'll dry the dishes for you."

"Thanks Amanda," Carly smiled to his brother's girlfriend. She and Freddie had a seat on the couch.

"So, what's going on?" Freddie asked as he set the soda cans down on the coffee table.

Carly paused for a moment collecting her thoughts. "I just want to apologize to you again for the way I hurt you this past fall," she said rather sadly.

Freddie stared at her, "Hey," he responded, "I told you that everything is cool."

Carly nodded, "I just feel like I owe you this, because I told you that I wanted to look for somebody that was different from me. Danny wasn't all that different from you, at least not in the beginning."

Freddie shrugged, "I think he was a little more different than that."

"Freddie," she continued, "I've watched the way that you and Sam act around each other. I'm especially watching you. I'm amazed at how truly nice and sweet you are to my best friend."

Freddie felt like Carly was holding something back, "I love Sam very much." He said gently. "I feel there's something else on your mind though."

Carly shook her head, "I just really feel lonely right now. I'm trying to be happy for everyone, but…"

Freddie grinned, "I am so sorry you have to spend the holidays feeling lonely. But you know that Sam and I will do everything in our power to help you be happy again." He reached over to give his friend a hug.

Carly hugged him back. She felt better knowing that her friends would never stop trying to help her find happiness again.

"Hey, what am I missing here?" Sam asked as she stood behind the couch. She had wondered what was taking her boyfriend so long in getting her a soda. She came down the stairs and stopped behind the couch just seconds before Freddie hugged Carly.

Carly turned a little pale. "I was just telling Freddie about how much I enjoy watching you guys together, and basically how much I miss enjoying that feeling with a special guy in my life." She explained.

Freddie nodded, "I told her that we would do everything we could to help her find a special guy."

Sam nodded and turned to Carly, "I know you're feeling lonely, cupcake," she said softly, "but Freddie's right, we will help you find somebody that makes you just as happy as what my dork makes me."

Freddie wrinkled his nose at his girlfriend, and Carly smiled. "Thanks you guys," she said somewhat happily, "I am so lucky…" she paused as she heard her cell phone beep indicating that she just received a text message. She opened her phone and read the message.

"Who did you get a message from?" Sam asked as she walked around to the front of the couch and sat down next to her boyfriend.

"Danny," she replied, "he wants me to give him a call so we can talk."

"Are you going to?" Sam asked her.

"I don't know," Carly replied with some uncertainty, "Should I?"

"Absolutely," Freddie responded as he got up from the couch. This caused Sam to get back up as well. "You guys dated for three months before you broke it off. It seems to me that if he's trying to communicate with you on Christmas, that he must be feeling just as lonely as you are."

Carly nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense."

"You'll never know unless you call," Sam grinned, "Remember how close you guys were at one time? I believe you might be getting a Christmas miracle here."

Carly smiled at her friends, "Wow, I can't believe I'm having you two of all people trying to encourage me to call Danny."

"Well," Freddie grinned, "we want you to be happy. It doesn't matter how we feel about him, as long as we know that you are happy."

"Thanks you two," Carly grinned, "I guess I'm going to call him then."

"Good luck," Sam replied as she grabbed Freddie's hand and they walked back towards the stairs.

Freddie grabbed the two soda cans just before grabbing Sam's hand. "We're going back up to the studio," he called as he and Sam began to ascend up the stairs.

"I'll be up after awhile," Carly called back to them as she began dialing Danny's number on her phone, "hopefully with good news!"

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam and Freddie took a seat together in a bean bag chair in the iCarly studio. They ate their dessert and were sipping on the sodas as they were relaxing in the chair.

Freddie was softly stroking Sam's hair, as she was lying on his lap looking up at him, "Well Sam," he said, "did you think at the beginning of the school year that there would be any possibility that you and I would be sitting like this by Christmas?"

Sam gave him a weird look, "What kind of dorky question is that?" She asked slightly annoyed, "You ought to know that I wouldn't have thought that considering at the time you were in love with Carly." If she wasn't so relaxed, she would have gotten up from his lap.

Freddie frowned at her, "Yeah," he replied, "I guess that question didn't come out right. And I told you before, that I just crushed for Carly; I wasn't in love with her."

"Alright, fine," she sighed, as she rolled her eyes at him, "but no, I never would have guessed that you and I would have ended up together at the beginning of the school year." She looked away from him, and closed her eyes.

"Honestly," Freddie spoke, "I wouldn't have guessed it either." Freddie let go of her hair when he saw that Sam had closed her eyes. He began to massage her forehead and around her temples with his fingers.

Sam started taking deep quiet breaths as Freddie was massaging her. She loved it when he did this. It relaxed her so much that she often was put to sleep. Today was not going to be one of those days though. "Freddie?" She asked softly.

"Yeah," he replied.

"If Carly wouldn't have rejected you like she did this fall, would you still have wanted to be with her?" Sam asked faintly.

Freddie stopped massaging, and began to caress her cheeks and her chin, "I guess the reason that I never gave up hope to begin with, was the fact that she was always so nice in letting me down. I guess I always thought that she'd come around sometime and we'd date. It was when she told me that there would be no chance, and told me not to have hope, that I finally gave up on her."

Sam opened her eyes and stared at him. She reached up and touched his cheek. He bent over to kiss her hand. She laid her hand back down. "Freddie," she continued, "I know you gave me a promise ring and everything, and you and I have had an amazing month, but I have to know…"

Sam got up from Freddie's lap and sat up on the chair. She turned her body so she was facing his, "…if Carly were to ask you right now that she was wrong about you, and asked you if you were interested in her…"

"Sam, stop," Freddie said as he placed his hand over her mouth, "Carly Shay had her chance. She will only be a friend to me now. There is only one girl in this world that I live for, and it's the girl I'm gazing at right now." He moved his hand from her mouth, and watched as she blushed. The question had made Freddie turn a little pale though. He was thinking about the conversation he just had with Carly earlier, and it almost seemed as though Carly was sort of hinting about being wrong about him.

Sam nodded, "I'm just scared that something might happen to split us up, and…"

"Nothing or no one is going to break us up," Freddie said firmly, "you and I have too deep of a love for anyone to break. You and I both waited a long time for each of us to tell the other the truth about our feelings for one another. I don't want to be with anyone else, not now, not ever."

Sam reached across the bean bag chair and kissed Freddie passionately on the lips. He returned the kiss in the same way, feeling a great pounding in his heart as though it was their first kiss. Finally they released, and they sat back gazing at one another. They grabbed each other's hands and held them between their laps.

"Freddie," Sam said somewhat teary-eyed, "I always thought that I was going to be someone who would never express her feelings to anyone, and that I would lash out to people all of life. But you are the one person that made me want to try to change. When I continuously attacked you over the years, you gave me the attention that I craved. You showed nothing but compassion for me. When I needed you, you showed me your heart, and also what true love is. I know there were times you didn't want to do anything for me, but if you would have ignored me like everyone else, I probably would have wound up in jail or something."

Freddie grinned, "I don't know if you would have wound up in jail."

"Sure I would have," Sam continued, wrinkling her face as she said this, "I pretty much made after school detention a part of my daily life. I was on a path of self destruction. I didn't care about anything, whether it was school, home, other people; it didn't make a difference to me. You had the patience to tolerate me Freddie, like no other person would. You gave me a chance to try to better myself, and you helped me succeed."

Now it was Freddie's turn to blush. He couldn't believe that Sam was opening her heart out to him like this. He finally understood how she felt about him as a whole.

"Wow," he stuttered, "I don't know what to say. I had no idea that you thought that highly of me."

"Of course I do," Sam replied as she let go of his hands momentarily, "that's why I get a little insecure about our relationship from time to time. I'm just scared something might happen to ruin this good thing in my life." Her eyes were getting a little red and puffy as she was saying this.

"Oh Sam," Freddie said softly, as he reached across to hold his girl. She slumped down into his chest, and laid against him, "You are the most important thing in my life, and I want you to know something else that I don't want you to ever forget when it comes to you and Carly."

"What's that?" Sam asked as she lifted herself from his chest to face him again.

"When it comes to choices in my life, I found out that Carly never gave me a choice to be with her, and what I thought was love was all wrong. It wasn't until I looked at you as the person I was beginning to really know and care about that I understood what true beauty and love was. You actually wanted to have me in your life. Plus, there was the fact that you felt love for me in return. It was then that I realized that you were the ONLY choice for me." Freddie stated proudly.

Sam kissed his cheek, and smirked, "And I would have it no other way, Freddie."

Freddie smiled back as he held his girl in his arms and enjoyed a calmness that settled over the iCarly studio. He lied back in the beanbag chair as Sam curled up next to him laying her head on his chest. She caught herself looking at the promise ring on her finger and saw the two birthstones sparkling in the light. She smiled, for she knew that everything in her life was going to end up just fine.

**Author's Note: Well there you have it. I did make a lot of changes to this chapter in the end and wound up adding over 800 words to the chapter. I know that this was a lengthy chapter, but I didn't know where to divide it, so I kept it all together. I hope everybody liked the story. I am curious about whether or not I should have written these last 8 chapters though. Let me know what you thought please. I want to thank all who reviewed this story, you guys rock! – kwags74**


End file.
